Romney wins Wyoming Republican caucus

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pulled ahead of former senator Rick Santorum to win the Wyoming caucuses Saturday.

Results showed Romney won seven of the 12 delegates to the Republican National Convention, Santorum three and Ron Paul one, the party's chairman, Tammy Hooper, said.

In a statement, Romney said the victory brings him "one step closer to defeating President Obama and restoring American's promise."

"I am grateful to our extraordinary supporters in Wyoming and look forward to sharing my message of more jobs, less debt and smaller government with voters across the nation," the former Massachusetts governor added.

The vote Saturday was held in 15 counties. Caucus votes earlier in the week already were held in eight other counties.

The same voting trend that gave Romney a roughly 2-to-1 lead over Santorum continued Saturday in the remaining counties, Hooper told AFP.

"But we have some counties that haven't reported yet," Hooper said.

Wyoming has the smallest population of any state with less than 600,000 residents.