CARSON CITY, Nev., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Mitt Romney was the projected winner in Nevada's presidential caucuses Saturday night, leaving the rest of the GOP pack in the dust.

CNN gave the former Massachusetts governor the victory based on his being favored by 47 percent of the caucus-goers with 13 percent of the precinct caucuses reporting. Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker from Georgia, was second with 22 percent, followed by Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning congressman from Texas, third with 19 percent and Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, at 12 percent.

CBS News also declared Romney, who was coming off a big win in Florida's primary, was the winner.

At stake are Nevada's 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention in August in Tampa, Fla. The delegates will be apportioned proportionately.

Romney, who also won Nevada during his unsuccessful 2008 bid to secure the party's presidential nomination, campaigned Saturday afternoon at a metal fabrication company in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he pounded on Democratic President Barack Obama,Politico reported.

"That stimulus he had, it did not do the job," Romney said at Springs Fabrication. "That stimulus did not create private sector jobs like it could have, like it should have, and it instead protected government jobs. And if there is one place that deserves to shrink in our nation, it is in government employment."

Nevada's caucuses, like Florida's primary earlier this week, was only open to registered Republicans. Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul were the only candidates on the ballot, and there were no options for uncommitted or write-ins.

Paul, who opted not to campaign actively in Florida, is focusing on caucus states like Nevada, where he finished second in 2008, and Maine, which also started its caucus process Saturday, ABC News said.

"Nevada is a tough state for Gingrich and Santorum. They have three strikes against them before they even go to the plate," GOP strategist Alex Castellanos said on CNN, where he is contributor.

"One, 11,000 of the 44,000 GOP caucus-goers four years ago were [members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as is Romney] and will go again for Romney. Two, Nevada also has a strong 'leave me alone' libertarian contingent that will vote for Paul, and three, Clark County, around Las Vegas, is dominated by establishment Republicans, not ideological conservatives," Castellanos said.