By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : John McCain narrowly won the biggest contest so far in the fight for the Republican presidential nomination even as Democrat Hillary Clinton scored a strategic point for her party’s ticket.
In Florida, the Arizona senator Tuesday edged out his chief rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by 36 to 31 percent leaving former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani lagging far behind with 15 percent. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee finished fourth with 13 percent.
With this win, McCain practically put paid to Giuliani, who had led the national polls for over a year before his poor performance in the early voting states like Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina that he largely ignored in what observers consider a flawed strategy.
“You don’t always win,” said Giuliani who had virtually staked his campaign on a strong showing in the state. “You can always try to do it right,” he told supporters in Orlando, Florida.
Huckabee said his fourth place finish would not end his campaign. “When you look at what we have done with what we’ve had, it’s a remarkable story that is not even close to being over,” Huckabee said. “We’re just getting started.”
In the Democratic race, former first lady Hillary Clinton won with a 50 to 33 percent margin over her chief rival, Senator Barack Obama, though the winner will receive no delegates to the party’s national convention in August for holding an early primary against party rules.
None of the Democratic candidates campaigned in the state and the race was generally considered moot, but Clinton hoped to gain momentum from a victory in Florida ahead of the crucial Feb 5 Super Tuesday coast-to-coast battle in 22 states.
Clinton flew in after the voting and in a victory speech promised “I will do everything I can to make sure not only are Florida’s Democratic delegates seated, but that Florida is in the winning column for the Democrats in 2008”.
But the focus Tuesday was on the Republican race, which offers the biggest single delegate prize yet of the primary season. Before the Florida vote, McCain had 32 pledged delegates, Romney had 27 and Huckabee had 7.
He now gains 57 delegates in the winner-take-all contest, half the usual number awarded because the national Republican Party also punished Florida for moving its primary before Feb 5.
Florida was the first primary in which independents could not participate. They were key to McCain’s victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina as he bested Romney after drawing on the support of moderate and socially liberal voters.
The economy was by far the top issue for voters, according to interviews of voters taken as they left polling places: 47 percent cited it as their top concern compared with terrorism at 19 percent and illegal immigration at 17 percent.
Despite the Democratic National Committee’s decision to penalise Florida for moving its primary to January by refusing to seat delegates from the state, early ballots showed a vigorous response from Democratic voters.
According to early exit polls, four in 10 Florida Republicans favour deportation for illegal immigrants. The rest are closely divided on whether illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay as temporary workers or offered a chance to apply for citizenship.
While majorities of Democrats said the US is ready for a woman president and a black president, almost 20 percent said the country was not ready for a woman to be president and almost 30 percent said the country was not ready for a black president.