Will Romney repeat in Olmsted County and Minnesota?

Four years ago, Mitt Romney dominated in the Minnesota caucuses snagging nearly 42 percent of the vote. He trounced eventual GOP presidential nominee John McCain's 22 percent.

The former Massachusetts governor also won big in Olmsted County getting 36 percent of the vote. McCain took second place with 24 percent, followed by Mike Huckabee with 23 percent and Ron Paul with 17 percent.

The big question is whether Romney can pull off another victory this time around. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has a slight advantage over Romney, according to Public Policy Polling. That poll puts Santorum at 33 percent with Romney at 24 percent. The poll predicts former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will take the third place spot with 21 percent of the vote and Paul will get 13 percent.

Both Santorum and Paul made a point of visiting Rochester in advance of the caucuses to build support. Paul held a town hall meeting that drew a crowd of 700 people to Mayo High School. Santorum did a fundraising breakfast at the Canadian Honker and later gave a health policy speech at the Kahler Grand Hotel.

One interesting note from 2008 — every county in southeast Minnesota went for Romney except for Fillmore and Mower counties. Voters in those two counties went with Huckabee.