Mitt Romney has won the Nevada Republican presidential caucuses, Fox News projects.

He becomes the first 2012 GOP candidate to win two consecutive elections, after having defeated Newt Gingrich in the Florida primary earlier in the week.

With 21 percent of precincts reporting, Romney has 39 percent of the vote. Gingrich with 27 percent is still in a close race for second against Ron Paul who has 19 percent. Fox News projects Rick Santorum who has 14 percent of the vote, will finish in last place.

Nevada offers a modest delegate haul, with 28 convention delegates at stake. Romney led the field going into the race with 87, followed by Gingrich with 26, Santorum with 14 and Paul with four. It takes 1,144 delegates to win.

Gingrich, meanwhile, has kept his gaze trained on upcoming contests, the next of which will be held in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri -- and later in Maine, Michigan and Arizona.
Gingrich told Fox News he hopes to be "even with or slightly ahead" of Romney in the delegate count by early April.

For the near term, Romney has a healthy lead in delegates and will build on that advantage Saturday. Nevadans overwhelmingly supported the former Massachusetts governor in the 2008 presidential caucuses, and did not appear to be tiring of his candidacy in 2012.

Romney, who is Mormon, benefited from the state's Mormon population, which made up a quarter of the GOP electorate in 2008 and almost uniformly supported him in that election.

Entrance polls Saturday evening also showed Romney crushing the competition in Nevada among those who value beating President Obama in November as the most important quality in a GOP candidate.

The polls also showed Romney leading the field by double digits among evangelical Christian caucus-goers. Romney was backed by 48 percent of evangelicals, compared with 27 percent for Gingrich.

Leaving nothing to chance, Romney supporters were calling caucus-goers late Friday asking for their vote.

"We are showing that organization and hard work and commitment make a real difference," Romney said, as he visited a Las Vegas office hosting a marathon call session.

Romney won Tuesday's Florida primary, in what was seen as a setback for Gingrich after the former House speaker won South Carolina. He also won New Hampshire, but lost Iowa to Santorum after initially being declared the winner there.

Santorum has kept a feisty attitude on the campaign trail, targeting both Romney and Gingrich.

During a speech in Missouri Friday, Santorum said: "We need someone who is more multidimensional than Governor Romney and not as multidimensional in every idea in the world as Newt Gingrich."

Santorum has criticized Gingrich for his ambitious, and costly, space exploration plans -- such as his call for a moon base. And he's taken a few shots at Romney for saying earlier in the week he's not concerned about the "very poor" -- a remark Romney has conceded was a mistake.

Santorum campaigned Saturday in Colorado. Paul, meanwhile, campaigned in Minnesota, after having put a lot of work into the Nevada caucus contest.