Romney win levels GOP field

THE pressure’s on for Republicans to show staying power in a presidential primary race where, as Fred Thompson put it yesterday, “everyone gets to be hero of the day”.

After three contests with three different winners, Republicans are deep in an anything-goes scramble for South Carolina’s primary on Saturday, with Mitt Romney the latest to take a victory lap.

“I’m not making predictions about what’s going to happen in every other state, but I’m feeling pretty darn good at this point,” he said, coming off of a much-needed win in his native Michigan.

Democrats are competing for Nevada’s caucuses, also on Saturday, after a toned-down TV debate in which top rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama pledged to set aside arguments between their camps over race.

Mr Romney said the Michigan primary “gave me the kind of boost I needed”. Anything short of victory would have left his campaign on the ropes, after his losses to Mike Huckabee in Iowa and John McCain in New Hampshire. In Michigan, Romney had 39% of the vote, McCain had 30% and Huckabee 16%. No other Republican fared better than single digits.