Romney plays Trump card in Las Vegas

Real estate mogul Donald Trump re-injected himself and his wealth into the Republican presidential race by endorsing Mitt Romney on Thursday, a day after the front-runner stumbled with remarks suggesting he was indifferent to US' poor.

Trump, himself an on-again/off-again Republican presidential candidate and former member of the party, said he would back Romney in the race for the nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Trump told reporters he got to know the former Massachusetts governor during several recent conversations and was impressed with his tough talk on China and said he was won over by Romney's strong performance campaigning in Florida.

"I was very impressed by the last two debates," he said in Las Vegas.

Trump, who announced he was leaving the party two months ago, seems an unlikely choice for Republican kingmaker. But the casino owner and reality television star is popular in Nevada, and from the Romney team's perspective it is better to have him with them than against them.

Nevada's caucuses on Saturday are the next contest in the state-by-state process of choosing a Republican nominee.

Romney has won two of the first four contests, taking primaries in New Hampshire and Florida by healthy margins. Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich won South Carolina's primary, and former US Senator Rick Santorum won Iowa's caucuses by a narrow margin over Romney.

Romney seemed to snatch Trump's backing from his main rival, Gingrich. US media had reported late on Wednesday that Trump would support the former House speaker, whose presidential campaign has been struggling since his upset victory over Romney in South Carolina on January 21.

But Trump's support could backfire on Romney, a day after the wealthy former private equity executive gave a clumsy reminder of the challenges he faces winning over voters hit by the economic downturn and convincing them he can relate to their problems.

"I'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there," Romney said Wednesday on CNN, adding, "If it needs repair, I'll fix it."

Trump, who cultivates an aura of glitz and glamour, estimated last year that his personal net worth could be as high as $7 billion. He was derided as he mulled entering the 2012 presidential race last year for pushing a discredited charge that Obama was not born in the United States.

"This signifies a further consolidation of the Republican base," Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said. "But, given Romney's comments yesterday, I could see (Obama's campaign) would like to tie this as a way to portray Mitt Romney as someone who is not in touch with the plight of the average American."

The Democratic National Committee quickly seized the opportunity to release a video titled, "Mitt Romney and Donald Trump: They both like firing People," referring to the tagline of Trump's TV reality show and an earlier Romney gaffe, "I like being able to fire people."