Romney rally in Eagan on Wednesday

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will host a rally with former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and supporters Wednesday at Freightmasters Logistics Inc., a trucking company in Eagan.

The rally will be at 1 p.m. at 1980 Seneca Road.

Romney will be the second Republican presidential candidate to visit Minnesota this week; Rick Santorum stopped in tiny Luverne on Monday. The state holds its presidential caucuses next Tuesday.

After his brief stop in Dakota County, Romney will travel to another rally in Las Vegas ahead of Nevada's caucuses on Saturday.

The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party announced his resignation in the face of pressure over his controversial handling of last month's Republican presidential caucus.

Matthew Strawn, who will step down next week, made a series of embarrassing reversals over which candidate had won. On Jan. 3, caucus night, Strawn called Mitt Romney the winner over Rick Santorum by eight votes. On Jan. 19, he said a winner could not be determined because of missing paperwork from eight of 1,774 precincts. Later that day, Strawn said Santorum had won by 34 votes.

The confusion prompted concern that the state party might have jeopardized Iowa's first-in-the-nation voting status in presidential elections.

"No matter what happens in Florida, this race is wide open," Santorum said in Lone Tree, Colo. "We plan on being in this campaign for a while."

Paul spoke to more than 1,000 supporters in Fort Collins, many of them students at Colorado State University.

"All we have to do is return to our constitutional form of government, and we can get out of this mess in no time," said Paul, garnering loud cheers for a blast at U.S. foreign policy. "We need to keep America safe, but not to be the policeman of the world."

Both candidates went on to Nevada.