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I don't know the exact process in Maine, so I can't say with any authority. In many caucus states, the popular vote for the candidate is a small part of the process. For instance, Iowa held caucuses that included a straw poll, and Mike Huckabee won that poll. However, no delegates to the national convention were selected that day. If they had been, then Iowa would have been penalized. Instead, the caucus elected delegates to a state convention. When the state convention delegates meet later in the year, they will select delegates to the national convention. While Mr. Huckabee didn't actually receive delegates at the Iowa caucus, we can reasonably assume that if he won the vote, his delegates to the state convention won as well. When they get to the state convention, they will vote for Huckabee delegates to the national convention. This process is in contrast to the Wyoming caucus where they selected delegates directly to the national convention and were penalized.

If the Maine caucus is non-binding, then Maine will not be penalized. Avoiding the penalty means not awarding any national convention delegates today. However, if Mr. Romney is winning a majority of the popular vote, then his delegate candidates to the Maine state convention are likely winning in their delegate races. If they win today, they will be in a position to control the state convention in May. If they control the state convention in May, they will be in a position to send Romney delegates to the national convention in late August/early September.

To summarize, I'm not saying that Mr. Romney won't be awarded the delegates. I am saying that he won't actually have those delegates picked with their credentials established for the convention until after the state convention.

Bill

Of course, in Iowa, Huckabee only won the non-binding straw poll, and his supporters didn’t really come with their own delegates to elect, so most of the people elected to the next round were the same folks who were going to get elected if Romney won.

Note also that if Huckabee dropped out, there’d be no reason for any of them to vote for Huckabee at the state convention, so they’d probably vote for Romney since he came in 2nd.