Republicans vie for pre-super on Tuesday poll boost

SEATTLE, March 3, (AFP) - The Republican race to choose the party's White House candidate moves today to Washington state, in the last stop before the nation's vote bonanza on Super Tuesday next week.

The far northwestern US state bordering Canada is traditionally a Democratic bastion, but also has lots of self- described independent voters who can take part in the Republican caucuses, potentially skewing the results.

Mitt Romney, who has regained his frontrunner status after defeating surging Christian conservative Rick Santorum in two polls earlier this week, got a boost on the eve of the weekend Washington caucuses.

The latest Public Policy Polling ( PPP) survey gave the lead in Washington state to Romney with 37 percent against 32 percent for former Pennsylvania senator Santorum, 16 percent for Ron Paul, and 13 percent for Newt Gingrich.

Romney, campaigning in the Evergreen State on Friday, trained his fire exclusively on President Barack Obama, returning to his frontrunner strategy of rising above his Republican rivals' fray.

“This guy is out of ideas and he's out of excuses, so in 2012 we're gonna get him out of office,” he said, in a familiar stump speech refrain, vowing to return to “the principles that made this the strongest nation on earth.”

Although in past races Washington state has largely been off the beaten track for most campaigns, all four of the remaining candidates in the race to take on Democrat Obama in the November elections have campaigned here.

The Washington caucuses -- which are non- binding -- come just days before Super Tuesday, when 10 states will vote for their Republican candidate, who will be crowned at a party convention in August.

On March 6 votes will be held in Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota hold caucuses; the rest are primaries.

In the topsy-turvy battle to decide which Republican candidate will take on Obama, Romney has now won six states, Santorum four and former House speaker Newt Gingrich one.

Delegates are awarded by each state in the complex Republican party nominating process, sometimes on a proportional and/or non-binding basis, until one candidate reaches the 1,144 delegate threshold required for victory.