Clinton, Obama close, McCain leads in US

6 Feb 2008, 2:43 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Democrat Barack Obama won nine US states and Hillary Clinton took six on "Super Tuesday", while Republican John McCain rolled to a series of big wins.

Democrat Barack Obama won nine states and Clinton took six in a hard-fought duel on "Super Tuesday" in the United States.

Meanwhile, Republican John McCain rolled to a series of big wins, as 24 US states voted in contests that could help pick the presidential nominees of both parties.

Obama scored victories in Georgia, Delaware, Alabama, Kansas, North Dakota, Connecticut, Utah, Minnesota and his home state of Illinois.

Clinton won Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and her home state of New York.

McCain, hoping to knock rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee out of the race with a strong night, cruised to wins in Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Oklahoma and Illinois on the biggest day of US presidential voting ahead of November's election.

Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, won in Alabama, Arkansas and at a convention in West Virginia.

Romney won in Massachusetts, where he served as governor, and in Utah, which has a heavy concentration of Mormons. Romney would be the first Mormon president.

More than half the total delegates to the Democratic convention in August and about 40 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention in September will be apportioned in Tuesday's voting. The delegates will pick the candidates for the November 4 election.

The biggest prize of the night for both parties' candidates will be California.

The mixed results, with all the contenders scoring at least two wins, were likely to prolong the hard-fought nominating races in both parties. More contests are slated in the coming week in a half-dozen states.

"This is not going to be decided tonight," Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said on MSNBC.

The Republican races in Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee and Arizona were all still too close to call, US television networks said.

Economic worries - plunging housing values, rising energy and food prices, jittery financial markets and new data showing a big contraction in the service sector - eclipsed the Iraq war as voters' top concern in both parties, exit polls showed.

Huckabee siphoned votes from Romney among conservatives unhappy with McCain's stances on immigration, tax cuts and campaign finance reform and performed well in the South, fueled by strong support from evangelical Christians.

"A lot of people have been trying to say this is a two-man race," Huckabee told supporters in Little Rock, Arkansas.

"Well, you know what, it is and we're in it."

Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, was battling a wave of momentum for Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black US president. Obama has surged in national polls on his message of change.

National exit polls showed more than half of Democratic voters ranked the ability to bring change as the top attribute for a candidate. Nearly one-quarter of Democrats voting in the party's 22 contests ranked experience, Clinton's selling card, as the most important attribute.

"The fact that we've made so much progress I think indicates that we've got the right message," Obama said on NBC's Today show.

Obama surged to victory in Georgia with heavy support from black voters, but also scored about 40 per cent of the white vote. Clinton, who would be the first female US president, won heavy support from women, exit polls showed.

She and Obama had split the first four significant nominating contests in January and spent heavily on advertising from coast to coast.

Because Democrats distribute delegates in proportion to their vote statewide and in individual congressional districts, candidates can come away with large numbers of delegates even in states they lose. Aides for both campaigns predicted the contest would continue for weeks or months to come.

In contrast, many of the 21 Republican contests are winner-take-all when awarding delegates, meaning a strong day by McCain could give him a commanding lead.

McCain has struggled to win over conservatives in the party, who have been unhappy with his views on immigration, tax cuts and campaign finance reform.

Huckabee won in the second round of balloting at the West Virginia convention after Romney led on the first ballot.

Huckabee was aided by McCain voters who switched to him to deny Romney a victory, drawing a protest from Romney's camp.

"This is what Senator McCain's inside-Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney's campaign of conservative change," Romney campaign manager Beth Myers said.

McCain, who has battled with Romney for weeks in an increasingly bitter duel, criticised Romney for complaining.

"Generally speaking, rather than blame it on someone else, I suggest that he move on," McCain told reporters.

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