Taking the Slow Vote in Maine February 9, 2012, 12:39 am While attention has been focused on nominating contests in the West and Midwest this week, a contest in Maine is offering another test of the candidates" strengths, on the East Coast. Maine's caucuses are multiday affairs, held over the course of more than a week, with the results to be released on Saturday. The state is considered Mitt Romney territory, given that he has a house in adjacent New Hampshire and was governor of Massachusetts. But Representative Ron Paul has been making an aggressive push in the state and came to visit late last month. On Friday night Mr. Romney is to attend a rally in Portland. He may be trying to head off another defeat shortly after his losses in the caucus battles in Colorado and Minnesota. Rick Santorum's victories there raised new questions about Mr. Romney's ability to win contests in states where he does not run heavy advertising blitzes. The contest is nonbinding, and the results are used to help select the state's 24 delegates to the Republican National Convention in August.