Romney up in early Nevada returns

Early returns from the Nevada Republican caucus show that Mitt Romney has the most votes so far. A victory in Nevada would give Romney his third victory in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

With 138 of 1,835 precincts reporting, Romney has 39 percent of the vote. His main GOP rival Newt Gingrich garners 25 percent of the vote, while Rep. Ron Paul is close behind with 22 percent. Former Sen. Rick Santorum has 13 percent of the vote.

A victory in Nevada will leave the former Massachusetts governor primed for what could be a strong month for him: There are six more states that will hold their caucuses or primaries in February, and Romney won four of them in the 2008 Republican primary campaign. Since his win in Nevada was widely predicted, Romney already has a head start campaigning in the upcoming states.

Still, the race is far from over. Not including Nevada's delegates (which will be awarded proportionally), Romney has just 80 at this point -- far from the 1,144 needed to secure the GOP nomination. Even if he were to win every delegate starting with Nevada and going through Super Tuesday, Romney still wouldn't have enough delegates to clinch the nomination. (Ten states hold their contests on "Super Tuesday," which falls on March 6.)

And while February is likely to be a strong month for Romney, the Gingrich campaign says it's ready to keep moving. Nevada is just "one stop on a cross-country train of collecting delegates," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said. "Our job is to stop in every state and collect the delegates."