Maine and Beyond

After another head shaking week in the GOP race for the White House, the focus now turns to Maine - the Pine Tree State - as Republicans on Saturday night will announce the results of GOP caucuses in that state, non-binding contests which have been going on for the past several weeks.

Mitt Romney flew to Portland on Friday night to see if he could capture some late momentum in Maine, though conventional wisdom is that Ron Paul is the favorite.

If Paul wins Maine, that would give us four different winners in the first nine states, and only contribute to the thought that the Republican race could go on for some time.

Paul was the only candidate who did not address the CPAC convention in Washington, D.C. on Friday, as Santorum, Romney and Gingrich all lobbied the conservative group for support.

Romney's speech was the most anticipated, but the feeling after the speech was that he really didn't offer much to the activists gathered in Washington, other than repeatedly saying the word "conservative."

Romney, Santorum and Gingrich all received some loud ovations, but there was also tepid applause a number of times for some of their lines, leaving you with the feeling that most of those in attendance were still dealing with a vague, lingering sense of dissatisfaction about the GOP field.

Gingrich railed against the GOP Establishment; Romney said he had been a "seriously conservative" Governor of a blue state; Santorum said he would present the best contrast with President Obama.

Of the three, Santorum certainly has the mojo right now, as he moves up in the national polls above Gingrich, and is passing Romney in some state polls as well.

A new poll from the American Research Group has Santorum ahead in Tennessee, which votes on Super Tuesday.

Public Policy Polling also noted that its first night of polling in Michigan showed Santorum ahead of Romney there as well.

That's the momentum you get when you win, and the drop in the numbers of Newt Gingrich is the bad momentum you get when you lose.

The big question for all the candidates is where to go next - that's no easy thing to decide as the map expands nationwide.

Early next week Santorum will go to Washington State, Idaho and North Dakota.

Maybe the most important question for Santorum is whether he can keep his momentum going through the February 28 contests in Arizona and Michigan.

A victory in one of those two states will certainly give him even more momentum as he tries to elbow Gingrich out of the way in states like Tennessee, Ohio, Oklahoma and even Georgia.

In Georgia, a new poll showed Gingrich ahead, but Santorum surging there in the wake of his wins earlier this week, with Romney back in third place.

Let's see what happens in Maine tonight and then go forward next week.