New York Breaking News

LAS VEGAS (CBS News) ― CBS News estimates that Sen. Hillary Clinton will win the Nevada Democratic caucuses. CBS News also estimates that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will win the Nevada Republican caucuses.

Romney, the only Republican to seriously focus on Nevada, entered the day with a comfortable lead in the state, according to a Mason-Dixon poll. The victory for the former Massachusetts governor is his second straight, following a win in the Michigan primary earlier in the week.

In a statement released while he flew to Florida, site of the Jan. 29 primary, Romney said Nevada Republicans had cast their votes for change. ``With a career spent turning around businesses, creating jobs and imposing fiscal discipline, I am ready to get my hands on Washington and turn it inside out,'' it said.

According to early CBS News exit poll data, the economy and illegal immigration were the issues on the minds of Nevada's Republican voters today.

About three in four Nevada GOP caucus-goers were conservative, and nearly half of GOP voters chose sharing values as their top candidate quality. GOP caucus-goers in both categories supported Romney.

Romney had made seven campaign trips to Nevada. He has largely ceded the South Carolina Republican race, also taking place today, to his rivals. South Carolina will hold its Democratic primary next Saturday.

In Nevada, Democrats have been mired in legal disputes and exchanges about race. The uncertainty stemmed in large part from earlier-than-usual voting in the U.S.'s fastest-growing state that has also been hit by a high mortgage foreclosure rate.

Among the Democrats, Clinton and John Edwards ganged up on chief rival Barack Obama in the final days, mocking his evocation of former Republican President Ronald Reagan in an effort to offset Obama's endorsement by the powerful Culinary Workers Union. The Illinois senator was thought to benefit from special caucus rules that Clinton supporters tried but failed to overturn in federal court.

Obama, who hopes to become the first black president, responded by suggesting Clinton would be a "president whose plans change with the politics of the moment" as part of one of his most direct critiques of the New York senator yet.

According to CBS News entrance polls, the economy was the issue most on the minds of Democratic caucus-goers today, ahead of health care and the war in Iraq.

More than one in four Democratic voters were members of a union household. Forty-three percent of union voters said they favored Clinton, while 29 percent favored Obama and 11 percent favored Clinton.

More than half of women said they were backing Clinton in today's caucuses, while men were more divided in their support.

Clinton won in New Hampshire and scored a victory in the largely meaningless Democratic race in Michigan where Obama and Edwards had withdrawn their names from the ballot after the national party stripped the state of its delegates for violating party rules by moving up its primary date.

Going into Nevada's contest, a poll Friday showed Clinton leading in the state with 41 percent while Obama trailed with 32 percent. But the survey by Mason-Dixon showed about 10 percent of likely caucus-goers still undecided. Edwards had 14 percent. Other polls have shown the three in a statistical dead heat.

For both parties, Florida's voters go to the polls on Jan. 29. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has focused virtually all of his efforts on the state. South Carolina Democrats - the majority of whom are black - will choose a nominee on Jan. 26.

Still ahead for those who remain in the race is "Mega Tuesday," Feb. 5, when two dozen states cast what could be deciding votes for the presidential nominees.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)