Romney looks to end losing streak in Maine

Portland: Mitt Romney was looking to overcome his struggle to win his party's sceptical conservative wing and avoid a fourth consecutive defeat at the polls on the path to the Republican presidential nomination yesterday in Maine.

The Maine election came at a critical time in Romney's quest to become the party nominee who will take on President Barack Obama, instead of merely the front-runner in the state-by-state race. Maine officials were set to announce a winner yesterday evening, a day after the former Massachusetts governor delivered a high-profile Washington address in which he described himself as "a severely conservative Republican governor".

The speech represented a full-throated insistence that he is conservative in both record and background, a message he sought to send as he worked to convince the party's sceptical right flank that he is acceptable as the party's nominee.

"My path to conservatism came from my family, from my faith and from my life's work," Romney said.

He's working to gain trust from the activists who make up the Republican base and who drive the Republican primary contest. They view him sceptically because of his past shifts on a variety of issues, including his previous support for abortion rights.

Chief rivals

Conservatives generally view Romney's chief rivals — former Senator Rick Santorum and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich — as having views more in line with them. Last week, Santorum won contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Romney all but ignored Santorum ahead of the contests.

Romney has yet to win a majority of Republican votes in any of the contests he's won so far. And he's looking to emerge strongly from the March 6 battle known as Super Tuesday, when ten states hold nominating contests.