Romney, In Comeback, Has Narrow Maine Caucus Win

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Republicans are seeking a nominee to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 general election. Some 21 delegates will be allocated from Maine. A candidate needs 1,144 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination.

Romney earlier on Saturday won a closely watched straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, with 38 percent support to Santorum's 31 percent.

More moderate than his rivals, Romney, a former venture capitalist, has struggled to convince conservatives he is one of them. He spoke to CPAC on Friday and called himself "severely conservative."

"I'm committed to turning around America. And I'm heartened to have the support of so many good people in this great state," Romney said in a statement after the Maine results.

Romney also staked a claim as a Washington outsider "who has never served a day in our broken federal government."

"The voters of Maine have sent a clear message that it is past time to send an outsider to the White House, a conservative with a lifetime of experience in the private sector, who can uproot Washington's culture of taxing and spending and borrowing and endless bureaucracy," he said.

In his failed presidential run in 2008, Romney won the Maine caucuses with 2,837 votes, or 52 percent backing.

CAMPAIGNED IN STATE                                                                                                                                            

In a sign of how seriously the Romney campaign took the potential for a fourth consecutive state loss, Romney flew to Portland on Friday for a town hall meeting, and spoke at two of the state's largest caucus sites on Saturday.