Romney keeps hopes alive as Democrats call truce in race row

Republican presidential hopeful former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney addresses supporters during a post-primary results rally at the Embassy-Suites Hotel Tuesday in Southfield, Michigan, after winning the Michigan primary.Photo: AFP

Republican Mitt Romney has revived his flickering White House hopes, powering to a Michigan primary victory as worries about the US economy increasingly define the 2008 election battle.
"Tonight marks the beginning of a comeback, a comeback for America," the former Massachusetts governor told cheering supporters after his win late Tuesday, which left the Republican presidential nomination race wide open.
"Only a week ago a win looked like it was impossible, but then you got out and told America what they needed to hear," the multi-millionaire Mormon businessman told some 300 delirious supporters, his wife Ann just next to him.
"Let's take this campaign to South Carolina and Nevada and Florida and all over the country, and let's take it all the way to the White House!"
Meanwhile, in the unpredictable Democratic battle, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama came together for a face-to-face debate in gambling paradise Las Vegas, after carefully smoothing over a bitter race dispute.
Romney, who was born in Michigan, beat his nearest rival, Senator John McCain, by 39 percent to 30 percent, with ex Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee coming in third with 16 percent of votes.
But with three different Republican winners in the three main nominating contests held so far in the roller-coaster White House race ahead of the November elections, everything was still left to play for.
"I think we've shown them we don't mind a fight. We don't mind a fight, and we're in it," McCain, a Vietnam war veteran who spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war, told supporters.