By Arun Kumar, IANS
Washington : Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were running a tight race, while John McCain was padding his lead in the Republican contest as first results from Super Tuesday’s battle for party nominations came in.
While Obama, hoping to be America’s first black president, was winning more states, Clinton aspiring to be the first woman to occupy the Oval Office was picking up states with more delegates to the party’s nomination convention.
The biggest prizes that Obama won were his home state of Illinois and Georgia, and a larger share of the 288 delegates in those states. Obama also won Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah. Between those states, he would be awarded the larger share of 278 delegates.
Clinton was projected to win her home state of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, and the larger share of the 329 delegates at stake in those states. Clinton also won Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, and the larger share of the 179 delegates in those states.
Early indications suggest it could be a long night. Those who made up their mind in the last three days appear to be torn between Obama and Clinton with 47 percent going for the African American senator and 46 percent for the former first lady.
On the Republican side Vietnam war veteran McCain claimed victory in New Jersey and New York, with 153 delegates between them.
In addition to New York and New Jersey, McCain will claim Connecticut, Illinois, Oklahoma, Delaware and Arizona, his home state. McCain has gathered 382 delegates so far in his presidential campaign, including tonight’s projections
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had claimed 70 delegates and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had 135, according to TV channel projections. In Georgia, Huckabee edged out McCain, who held a slim margin over Romney.
Romney got wins Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Utah. In addition to Georgia, Huckabee picked up Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Republican conservative voters appear to be evenly split between Romney and Huckabee. Of those who voted for Huckabee or Romney, about 80 percent identified themselves as conservative, according to exit polls.
Only 49 percent of McCain’s voters said they were conservative, a sign that the Arizona senator’s efforts over the last week to placate conservative voters has not paid off.
With 24 states and American Samoa holding primaries or caucuses, Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day and a pivotal day in the Democratic and Republican races for the White House. With no sitting president or vice president running for the first time in decades and wide-open races in both parties, a record number of voters has headed to the polls this primary season.
More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake.
Most Republican contests are winner-take-all, but on the Democratic side, most contests are awarded proportionally based on the number of congressional districts won.