NBC News declares Mitt Romney the projected winner in Nevada

WASHINGTON - Republican Mitt Romney won Nevada's caucuses Saturday, while John McCain and Mike Huckabee dueled in the South Carolina primary, two races likely to winnow the crowded field of GOP presidential rivals.

Democrats shared the stage in Nevada, where Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama vied for a caucus victory and the campaign momentum that goes with it.

Romney's western victory marked two straight successes, coming after a win in the Michigan primary earlier in the week that revived the former Massachusetts governor's campaign.Alone among the Republican contenders, Rep.
Ron Paul of Texas aired television ads in Nevada, and the
libertarian-leaning Texan looked for his best showing of the campaign
season.

Nevada
offered more delegates but far less appeal to the Republican candidates
than South Carolina, a primary that has gone to the party's eventual
nominee every four years since 1980 when Ronald Reagan won the
presidency.

That
made it a magnet for former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who staked
his candidacy on a strong showing in the first primary in a southern
state, as well as for Romney; McCain, the Arizona senator; and
Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas.