GOP ends NV vote count; Romney on top with 50%

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney has added to his lead in the race for delegates now that Republican officials in Nevada finished the vote count from Saturday's presidential caucuses.

Romney won the GOP caucuses with 50 percent of the vote, giving him 14 delegates. Newt Gingrich won six delegates, Ron Paul won five and Rick Santorum got three.

Nevada awarded its 28 delegates in proportion to the statewide vote.

Romney now has a total of 101 delegates to the party's national convention, including endorsements from Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the gathering and can support any candidate they choose.

Gingrich has a total of 32, Santorum has 17 and Paul has nine. The race for convention delegates is still in the early stages. It will take 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.

Next up: Caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday. Colorado has a total of 36 delegates, including 33 at stake in its caucuses. Minnesota has 40 delegates, including 37 up for grabs in its caucuses.

Missouri will hold a Republican presidential primary Tuesday, but the party will not award any delegates based on the outcome. Instead, Missouri will select delegates through a system of GOP caucuses and conventions that starts with local caucuses March 17.

The Associated Press calculates the number of national convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential primary or caucus, based on state and national party rules. Most primaries and some caucuses are binding, meaning delegates won by the candidates are pledged to support that candidate at the national conventions this summer.

Political parties in some states, however, use local caucuses to elect delegates to state or congressional district conventions, where national delegates are selected. In these states, the AP uses the results from local caucuses to calculate the number of national delegates each candidate will win, if the candidates maintain the same level of support.

The AP also interviews RNC delegates, who can support any candidate they choose, to see which one they support.