Romney wins landslide in Nevada vote

US Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney scored a landslide victory in Nevada, according to a vote tally.

With more than 70 per cent of the vote counted, Romney received 48 per cent, with main rival Newt Gingrich on 23 per cent.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul was in third place on 19 per cent.

Romney had won two of the previous four state contests this year and hoped to gain momentum from another victory to become Republican challenger for President Barack Obama in the November election.

Coming on the heels of a decisive victory in Florida earlier in the week, the win cemented his frontrunner status ahead of a series of less important contests later in the month.

Romney had gone into Nevada heavily favoured, even as his opponents appear set to continue the fight.

Romney's focus on turning around the economy appears to have played well in Nevada, where unemployment is more than 4 percentage points above the national average of 8.3 per cent and the housing crisis struck especially hard.

Addressing supporters after the Nevada win, he pointed to the grim economic statistics in the state, saying: "Barack Obama, Nevada has had enough of your kind of help."

He focused his attention not on his Republican rivals, but on the president. The national unemployment figure fell more than expected in January, but Romney noted that Obama himself had vowed to keep it under eight per cent. Checking off a series of policies, Romney claimed they had done little to help turn things around.

He was also boosted by the state's Mormon population, which made up a large proportion of caucus goers. Most supported Romney, who would be the first Mormon president if elected. But his faith could prove a hindrance among evangelical Christian voters in other states.

Paul, known for his anti-big-government message and isolationist foreign policy views, appealed to the state's independent streak and had spent considerable effort in Nevada organising grassroot support.

Only Romney and Paul had spent any significant amount of money on advertising in the state most known for its casino-laden city of Las Vegas. The state had been somewhat of an afterthought with most candidates spending just a few days here, and on Saturday all but Romney had moved on to campaigning in other states.

But Nevada could be important in the November election. Obama won the state in 2008, but it also has an active Tea Party movement of grassroots fiscal conservatives and its hard-hit economy makes it a prize for candidates focusing on the chief issue of the campaign.

Gingrich, who won last month's primary in conservative South Carolina, had hoped for strong support in Nevada from the Tea Party, as had Santorum.

A multi-day caucus opens on Saturday in the north-eastern state of Maine, but no results are expected for several days.

The state-by-state nominating contest continues on Tuesday with caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota and a non-binding primary in Missouri.