Many Nevada Republicans were hoping for more conclusive Super Tuesday

By Anjeanette Damon

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 | 9:19 p.m.

Eager for Nevada to once against become a political epicenter, some Nevada Republicans have one message as their party continues to fight over whom to put up against President Barack Obama in November: Let’s get on with it!

Some in the Silver State’s GOP circles had hoped the Super Tuesday primary contests would cement a presumed nominee. But voters in the 10 primary states had different intentions, splitting in such a fashion as to keep the race going.

Mathematically, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appears to be on a path to collect enough delegates to secure the party’s nomination by the August convention.

But his rivals, particularly former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., aren’t making it easy on him and chalked up enough victories Tuesday to blunt any momentum Romney may have been gathering in recent weeks.

While Romney won Vermont, Virginia, Idaho and Massachusetts, Santorum took the critical states of Tennessee and Oklahoma, weakening Romney’s argument that he can compete strongly in Southern states. He also won North Dakota.

And in a reflection of the fact the contest doesn’t appear close to a culmination, the key battleground state of Ohio was too close to call late Tuesday.

Even former Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., won enough delegates to keep him in the race, taking his home state Tuesday night. And U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, despite failing to take any of the 10 states, has shown no sign of ending his philosophical battle for the heart of the Republican Party.

The prolonged primary fight, however, is rankling some Nevada Republicans who are eager for the general election battle to get started. Nevada is expected to be a critical battleground state once again in the presidential election and the GOP is ready to shift focus from infighting to Obama.

“I really don’t care who it is, I’d rather get on with it,” said Washoe GOP Chairman David Buell, who is making a run for state party chairman. “I want to start talking about Obama and his administration rather than sitting here beating each other up for the next few weeks.”

Not everyone agrees the prolonged primary is a bad thing.

In 2008, many political observers agreed that Obama’s mettle was established during his long primary struggle against Hillary Clinton. Some Nevada Republicans hope the same will be true for their eventual nominee.

“I think it’s been good,” Nevada’s GOP national committeeman Bob List said. “In the end, we’re going to have a candidate who can withstand tough criticism and has stood the course and can raise the money and do what it takes to beat Obama.”

Obama, however, was new to national politics and still had to prove his chops. Romney has been through the presidential wringer once before.

Should Santorum or Gingrich pull it off, the long primary fight that forced them to compete in most states before securing the nomination likely would be a plus.

“We still have a long, long, long way to go,” List said.

The state party, however, is trying to rev up its rusty turnout machine, even without a nominee in place.

Buell pointed to the party’s “Super Saturday” phone-banking effort last weekend.

“This was our first Saturday breaking out the phones and making thousands of calls,” Buell said. “We’re getting people ready for the election. We’re not waiting for the nominee. We have so many other things we need to do in Nevada to wait for the top of the ticket to be settled.”

Indeed, Democrats, who have only strengthened their turnout machine in Nevada, have been phone-banking and canvassing for months.