By Agencies

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Republican front-runner Mitt Romney easily won Nevada's presidential contest on Saturday, US television networks projected, taking command of the party's race to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.

Romney's win in Nevada on Saturday was his second in a row and third in the first five contests in the state-by-state Republican nominating battle.

The well-funded and organised Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, crushed rivals Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

Friendly territory

Nevada, which has a faltering economy and a big Mormon population, is friendly territory for Romney, a Mormon and former head of a private equity firm.

He captured 51 per cent of the vote in 2008 to win the state during his failed 2008 presidential bid.

He has stressed his business background as a cure for the ailing economy in Nevada, which has the country's highest state unemployment rate, 12.6 per cent in December, and the highest home foreclosure rate.

"This has been a tough three years," Romney told supporters in Henderson, Nevada, outside Las Vegas, on Friday night at his last campaign stop before the vote.

"It's time now for Barack Obama to get out of the way."

One Republican voter in Pahrump, a town near Las Vegas, said, "I think the consensus is that we dont need socialism, and that's how we feel about Obama."

Romney hopes Nevada's caucuses will launch a February winning streak that could position him for a knockout blow to his main rival, Newt Gingrich, during the 10 "Super Tuesday" contests on March 6.

Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri will have nominating contests on Tuesday. Maine will wrap up its weeklong caucuses next Saturday, and Arizona and Michigan hold February 28 contests.

Romney won Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Maine and Michigan during his failed 2008 presidential bid.

He came in second in Arizona to native son and eventual nominee John McCain, an Arizona senator, and finished third in Missouri.