Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney and Lincoln County Commissioner candidate Mike Cole were the big winners in Lincoln County on Tuesday in the Montana Primary.

Romney picked up 1,426 votes over second-place finisher Ron Paul with 382. Rick Santorum won 119 and  former House Speaker Newt Gingrich rounded out the balloting with 90 votes.

Perhaps an indicator for November, Romney picked up more than twice the votes in Lincoln County cast for incumbent President Barack Obama, who got  710 votes.

Closer to home, in the hotly contested race to fill the District 3 Lincoln County Commissioners race, Mike Cole secured 1,008 votes to easily outdistance other hopefuls to finish on top. Steve Curtiss was second with 627 votes.

Both men will advance to the November ballot where they will vie to fill the post being vacated by Marianne Roose, who is retiring after 16 years.

In the race for Montana governor, Rick Hill grabbed the most votes in our county with 725, outdistancing second-place finisher Ken Miller with 415 votes.

For the Democrats, Steve Bullock grabbed the most votes in the county.

For the open U.S. House seat, Steve Daines was the big winner in Lincoln County with 911 votes, outpacing Eric Brosten with 390 and Vincent Melkus with 297.

The Democratic favorite for U.S. Representative was Diane Smith with 139 votes, just edging Kim Gillan by 13 votes.

For more results here in Lincoln County, go to Clerk Tammy Lauer’s Web page at http://www.lincolncountymt.us/elections/docs/2012Primary.pdf.