Nevada Caucus 2012: Ron Paul And Rick Santorum Hold Las Vegas-Area Parties On Florida Primary Night

Santorum And Paul Hosting Parties In Vegas

Ron Paul and Rick Santorum are in Vegas.

While Mitt Romney was quickly announced the victor in the Florida primary at 8 p.m., the two GOP presidential contenders are hosting election night parties in the Silver State ahead of Saturday's caucuses.

Paul is holding a "Florida Election Night Party" at a casino in Henderson, Nevada just outside Las Vegas. Santorum is hosting a party at his campaign's headquarters in Las Vegas.

Their decisions to spend election night in Las Vegas signal how Florida proved to be unfriendly territory for the two candidates and suggest Nevada could lead to delegates for Paul and possibly Santorum.

Florida is a winner-take-all state, meaning that lower finishers have nothing to show for their efforts.

Nevada is a caucus state with 28 delegates allocated according to proportional vote.

Mitt Romney, who easily won the state in 2008, has a strong advantage among the state's Mormon population, a population that accounted for about one-quarter of caucus-goers in 2008.

Ron Paul has a strong following among libertarians in the state, and tends to do well in caucus states because of his campaign's strong organization and motivated supporters.

A poll conducted in December by the Las Vegas Review-Journal showed Romney leading Gingrich by a 33-30 margin, with Paul in third place with 13 percent. Santorum had three percent.

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