Southern doubt has Mitt mining for Nevada gold

WASHINGTON — Now that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has a first-place finish in Tuesday's Michigan primary, he's hoping to continue his winning streak in one of the next states up for grabs. It just won't be in South Carolina.

Romney, instead, is counting on Republicans in Nevada to give him his next victory. Utah's neighbor holds party caucuses on Saturday, the same day South Carolina becomes the first Southern state to hold a primary election in the 2008 race.

So far, though, the Nevada GOP caucus has attracted only slightly more attention than the Wyoming Republican county conventions on Jan. 5 did.

Romney was the winner that day in Wyoming, but his victory, sandwiched between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, went largely ignored.

"Most Republicans: There's a Nevada caucus?" was the headline on a Las Vegas Sun story Monday that bemoaned the lack of interest in Nevada's role in selecting a GOP nominee despite the national and even international focus on the Democrats who'll be voting in that party's hotly contested caucus.

All of the major Democratic candidates have repeatedly visited Nevada. Even as Romney was celebrating his Michigan win Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards were making headlines in a debate held in Las Vegas.

But on the GOP side, only Ron Paul, a Texas congressman and a former Libertarian presidential nominee, and Romney are actively campaigning in Nevada. Paul visited the state this week, but, the Las Vegas newspaper noted, he didn't show up for a weekend march along the Strip or a Texas hold 'em poker tournament held in his honor at the Texas Station casino.

Romney is scheduled to arrive in Las Vegas late this afternoon after what might be his last day campaigning in South Carolina before Saturday's vote there. He'll walk a Las Vegas neighborhood and attend a volunteer rally.

His decision to cut short time in South Carolina to campaign in Nevada makes it clear he has lowered expectations of doing well in a Southern state seen as a test of his ability to win over evangelical Christian voters. Romney is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and many evangelicals don't view Mormons as fellow Christians.

"If he (Romney) thought he had a chance, he would come back (to South Carolina)," said Bruce Ransom, a political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. And Romney himself acknowledged on Wednesday that other candidates will likely finish ahead of

him in South Carolina.