WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Mitt Romney won a presidential straw poll of Republican conservative activists on Saturday in a boost to his suddenly hard-fought battle against Rick Santorum.

But Sarah Palin, a conservative Tea Party champion, expressed what could only be considered bad news for Romney. She called for an extended battle to choose the Republicans’ nominee to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 general election.

Romney has been hoping to wrap up the nomination as quickly as possible but has struggled to convince conservatives that he is one of them.

“I believe that the competition has got to keep going,” Palin said to cheers at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington shortly after the poll results were announced.

The poll was conducted among attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a group of party activists from across the country. It is strictly symbolic but does show Romney’s organizational strength and demonstrate he is capable of appealing to conservatives who have lacked enthusiasm for him.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, won 38 percent support among the 3,408 who voted in the online poll, defeating Santorum, who took 31 percent. Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose campaign has been fading, had 15 percent, and libertarian Congressman Ron Paul, who won last year’s straw poll, tallied 12 percent.

It was a coup for Romney after he spoke to the group on Friday and called himself “severely conservative,” a verbal contortion that puzzled some commentators.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Mitt Romney urged conservatives on Friday to overcome their doubts about him and help him win the party’s presidential nomination, then defeat Democratic President Barack Obama in November.

Romney, a wounded front-runner in the nomination race after losses this week to Rick Santorum in Missouri, Michigan and Colorado, has struggled to attract conservative Republicans wary of his record as the governor of Massachusetts.

On Friday he unleashed what amounted to an aggressive sales pitch, using a flurry of conservative buzzwords during his speech before a conference of the party’s right wing. He called for lower taxes and limited government, and voiced opposition to gay marriage and abortion.

Romney mentioned some version of the word “conservative” two dozen times, and at one point rather awkwardly called himself a “severely conservative” governor of Massachusetts.

He added that after a Massachusetts court found a legal right to same-sex marriage in the state, he “prevented Massachusetts from becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage.”

“I understand the battles that we, as conservatives, must fight because I have been on the front lines,” Romney said during his speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “I’m here to ask you to stand with me shoulder-to-shoulder as we fight for America.”

Two of Romney’s rivals, Santorum and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, tried to sow doubts about Romney’s electability.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney urged conservatives to overcome their doubts and get behind him to take on President Barack Obama in this November’s election.

Facing a surprise challenge from Rick Santorum, Romney laid out his credentials at a prominent meeting of conservatives

in Washington where he was well received.

“I’m here to ask you to stand with me shoulder-to-shoulder as we fight for America,” Romney said in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Speaking to the same forum, Santorum tried to sow doubts about the electability of Romney as the chief rivals for the Republican presidential nomination courted conservatives with pledges of fidelity to their causes.

Describing himself as “severely conservative”, Romney said he would make no apologies for his vast wealth earned as a private equity executive at Bain Capital.

“I spent 25 years balancing budgets, eliminating waste, and keeping as far away from government as was humanly possible. I did things conservatism is designed for. I started new businesses and turned around broken ones. And I am not ashamed to say that I was successful in doing it,” Romney said to loud applause.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Rick Santorum tried to raise doubts about the electability of Mitt Romney on Friday at a conservative gathering where he openly attacked his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination.

Buoyed by three victories this week, Santorum presented himself as the true conservative in the 2012 race and said Romney’s more moderate record does not draw enough of a contrast with Democratic President Barack Obama.

Santorum criticized the view held by many Republicans that while Romney is not the most conservative hopeful, he would be a strong candidate in the November 6 election against Obama because he would appeal to swing voters.

“Why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate that the party’s not excited about?” Santorum told the Conservative Political Action Committee forum.

Santorum’s wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday have given the former Pennsylvania senator a burst of momentum and a reason to promote himself as Romney’s main conservative alternative in the weeks leading up to March 6, the Super Tuesday when 10 states vote.

Conservatives, Santorum said, “need conservatives now to rally for a conservative, to go into November to excite the conservative base, to pull with that excitement moderate voters and to defeat Barack Obama in the fall.”

Romney was to address the group later in the day along with former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich.

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Mitt Romney acknowledged on Wednesday that his path to the Republican presidential nomination is not going to be easy after three shock losses to newly ascendant rival Rick Santorum.

A day after Santorum beat him in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Romney attempted to play down the results, saying his campaign did not devote a lot of time and money to the three state nominating contests and chose to compete strongly elsewhere.

Romney insisted at an airport news conference he believes he is still in a strong position to win the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama in the November 6 election, but acknowledged that the path to victory is hard and that it is likely Santorum will win again.

“We think we can beat Senator Santorum where we compete head to head in an aggressive way. We obviously didn’t do that in Colorado or Minnesota to the extent that the other campaign did. But sure there will be places where he wins, and places where I win.”

“But there are no such things as coronation in presidential politics. It’s meant to be a long process. It’s not easy to get the nomination. It’s not easy to be elected president, and this is a testing approach and so far we’re doing pretty well,” he said.

The three losses punctured Romney’s case that, after decisive victories in Florida and Nevada, he will ultimately wind up with the presidential nomination to face Obama.

The Colorado loss was particularly tough because Romney had spent two days campaigning there. While he largely did not campaign in Minnesota, he did have the support of former Governor Tim Pawlenty there, and still lost big.

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Mitt Romney acknowledged on Wednesday that his path to the Republican presidential nomination is not going to be easy after three shock losses to newly ascendant rival Rick Santorum.

A day after Santorum beat him in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Romney attempted to play down the results, saying his campaign did not devote a lot of time and money to the three state nominating contests and chose to compete strongly elsewhere.

Romney insisted at an airport news conference he believes he is still in a strong position to win the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama in the November 6 election, but acknowledged that the path to victory is hard and that it is likely Santorum will win again.

“We think we can beat Senator Santorum where we compete head to head in an aggressive way. We obviously didn’t do that in Colorado or Minnesota to the extent that the other campaign did. But sure there will be places where he wins, and places where I win.”

“But there are no such things as coronation in presidential politics. It’s meant to be a long process. It’s not easy to get the nomination. It’s not easy to be elected president, and this is a testing approach and so far we’re doing pretty well,” he said.

The three losses punctured Romney’s case that, after decisive victories in Florida and Nevada, he will ultimately wind up with the presidential nomination to face Obama.

The Colorado loss was particularly tough because Romney had spent two days campaigning there. While he largely did not campaign in Minnesota, he did have the support of former Governor Tim Pawlenty there, and still lost big.

DENVER (Reuters) – Former U.S. senator Rick Santorum rejuvenated his presidential hopes on Tuesday with a shocking sweep of the three nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, dealing a blow to wounded front-runner Mitt Romney.

Even though Romney still holds strong advantages in financing and organization, his campaign will now have to refocus to fight back the challenge from the surging conservative Santorum.

Backed by a wealthy “Super PAC” that pays for attack ads against rivals, Romney had excelled in major contests thus far in the race. After big wins in Nevada and Florida in the previous week, he did little campaigning in Minnesota and Missouri and had been expected to win easily in Colorado.

Until Tuesday, Santorum had won only one of the first five Republican contests in the state-by-state battle for the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

But on the first day of multiple nominating contests in the 2012 primary season, Santorum trounced Romney by 30 percentage points in Missouri. That vote was a non-binding primary, but has symbolic value as a measure of support in a big Midwestern state.

In Minnesota’s caucuses, Santorum won with 45 percent of the vote. But in another setback to former Massachusetts governor Romney, U.S. congressman Ron Paul was in second place with 27 percent and Romney was a distant third with 17 percent.

The race was closer in Colorado, but Romney had been expected to win easily. But Santorum won by 5 percentage points over Romney.

By Steve Holland

LOVELAND, Colo. (Reuters) – Republican candidate Rick Santorum is gunning for a victory in at least one of the three states holding presidential nominating contests on Tuesday in a bid to slow front-runner Mitt Romney and revive his fading White House hopes.

The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania narrowly won Iowa’s caucuses on January 3 but his drive to become the main conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney has not played out the way he had hoped.

He has had weak showings in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada , the states that have voted since Iowa.

Tuesday may give Santorum a modest boost. Colorado and Minnesota hold Republican caucuses in the state-by-state battle to decide on the party’s challenger to Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 presidential election. Missouri holds what amounts to a non-binding “beauty contest.”

Pollsters said Santorum was leading in Minnesota and was second to Romney in Colorado.

Santorum has made his strong positions on social issues a centerpiece of his campaign and is hoping that his staunch opposition to gay marriage and abortion will help win over religious conservative voters in upcoming nominating contests.

By Steve Holland

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) – Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney on Monday focused his campaign’s firepower on Rick Santorum to head off the former senator’s surge in two of three states with nominating contests this week.

Coming off a runaway victory in Nevada on Saturday, Romney hopes to cement his front-runner status in caucuses and primaries in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday – the next battlegrounds in the state-by-state fight to pick a Republican challenger to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Romney’s attention has been focused heavily on former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich but he is not a threat in this week’s contests.

Instead, the focus of Romney’s well-funded attack machine turned to Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who pipped Romney in the first contest of the 2012 Republican campaign in Iowa but has since faded from view.

Pollsters said Santorum, who has been vying with Gingrich to be the conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney, was leading in Minnesota and was second to Romney in Colorado.

Santorum also has a good chance in Missouri, where Gingrich is not even on the ballot, although the non-binding vote there is just symbolic because there are no delegates up for grabs. Missouri delegates will be won in mid-March in the binding portion of a two-step process caused by changes in the Republican primary calendar as states competed with one another to hold early nominating contests.