LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Mitt Romney appeared to be capitalizing on his Michigan roots in the days leading up to Michigan's Republican primary.

The former Massachusetts governor, who grew up in Bloomfield Hills, is desperate for a win after coming in second in Iowa and New Hampshire. In a Detroit Free Press-WDIV poll released Saturday, he leads John McCain 27 percent to 22 percent among 600 voters who definitely plan to vote in the GOP primary or who already have voted by absentee ballot. The poll was conducted Wednesday through Friday by Iowa-based Selzer & Co.

But McCain, who beat Romney in New Hampshire, is essentially tied for the lead with Romney in a poll released Saturday by The Detroit News and TV stations WXYZ, WILX, WOOD and WJRT. Among 604 voters likely to vote in the GOP primary, McCain is favored by 27 percent while 26 percent back Romney.

That poll was conducted Wednesday through Saturday by Lansing-based EPIC-MRA. It reflects voters who were asked which primary they expect to vote in, not which party they lean toward. For that reason, it likely reflects crossover voters who may vote in the other party's primary as well as independents.

Both polls had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is backed by 16 percent in the Detroit Free Press-WDIV poll and by 19 percent in the poll conducted for The Detroit News and the four TV stations.

Both polls showed other GOP candidates' support was in the single digits.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Rodham Clinton got more than half the vote in both polls, even though supporters of Barack Obama and John Edwards — who took their names off the ballot — are urging voters to vote for uncommitted.

In The Detroit News poll, 56 percent said they backed Clinton, while 33 percent said they'd vote for uncommitted. In the Free Press poll, 56 percent backed Clinton and 30 percent said they'd vote for uncommitted.

Dennis Kucinich, the only Democrat to campaign in the state, got 2 percent in one poll and 3 percent in the other.

Some of those polled in the News poll said they planned to write in a candidate, although write-in votes won't be counted in the presidential races.

The Free Press poll showed 10 percent of Democratic primary voters said they were undecided, while 5 percent said that in The Detroit News poll.

Among Republican primary voters, 6 percent were undecided in the Free Press poll, while 10 percent said that in The Detroit News poll.

Romney so far has won only Wyoming's little publicized caucuses and hopes Michigan will provide his first major win among the early voting states. McCain, who won Michigan's 2000 Republican primary, is hoping to repeat that victory on Tuesday and shore up his New Hampshire victory before heading into Saturday's races in South Carolina and Nevada. Huckabee is hoping for a strong finish that will show his Iowa base of support exists in other states.