Voter stickers in different languages are seen at a San Diego polling station, Feb. 5. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

Jamie Brown, Republican strategist, on election excitement:

"First and foremost, this is the most exciting American primary of our lifetime. The American people are the winners here today because we have incredible enthusiasm, high turnout, strong passion — it's just a very, very exciting night."

Frank McKenna, former Canadian ambassador to the U.S., on what the results mean for Canada:

"I think it's a matter of who is the Democrat and who is the Republican, more than the label. … I think generally speaking our relationships are so institutionalized that we're going to be in good shape no matter who wins. … Overall these people have a pretty favourable view of Canada."

Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, on American voters and 'change':

"I think there's simply no question that Americans are unhappy. They're angry about the economy — 91 per cent say the economy is in bad shape — they're not happy about the war, they do want change. But it's also not clear that Americans have a unified version of what change is … I think if we had a referendum up yesterday that would have allowed the country to TiVo through the next 12 months and just be done with George Bush and on to the next chapter, they would have taken it no matter which of the candidates would end up as president."

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and his wife Cindy arrive at their Super Tuesday primary election-night party in Phoenix. (Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

Senator John McCain, who leads the Republican candidates in delegate support:

"I think we've got to try to wrap this thing up as quickly as possible …hopefully, we can wrap this thing up, unite the party and be ready to take on the Democratic nominee in November."

Paul Cellucci, former U.S. ambassador to Canada and McCain supporter, on McCain's chances of becoming the nominee:

"The fact that Romney and Huckabee are splitting up the rest of the vote, I think it's going to be very difficult to stop John McCain now. He's well on his way to getting the majority of the delegates he'll need to become the nominee. … He's going to have the resources to define himself to the American people and I think he will be in good shape for the fall campaign."

Alex Conant, Republican National Committee spokesman:

"Our candidates took a step forward yesterday towards the nomination, which is in stark contrast to the Democrats who are essentially fighting into a stalemate here. They're going to go months before they have a nominee. … I think it's a huge advantage, especially since it's not just us fighting the Democrats, it's them fighting each other."

Michael Reagan, radio talk-show host and son of former president Ronald Reagan, on McCain:

"This is not somebody who is a friend to conservatives … he's got to make some inroads into conservative politics, into us, and convince us to vote for him in November … He has a lot of work to do."

Mike Welch, journalist and author of McCain: The Myth of the Maverick, on McCain:

"He's winning on the strength of people who describe themselves as independents, and very curiously, of people who describe themselves as anti-war and angry at Bush. And why that is curious is that John McCain will make George Bush look gun-shy in comparison."

John Zogby, pollster with Zogby International, on the Democratic race:

"On the Democratic side, in particular, you have not just two warring personalities, you have two warring demographics: older women and African-Americans … And each (candidate) has a sense of historical destiny, and each has a sense of having been wounded during this campaign. There are some wounds that have to be healed."

Steve Murphy, Democratic strategist, on what's to come in the Democratic race:

"The most significant sort of statistical aspect of last night is Barack Obama completely won the middle part of the country. I mean from Minnesota to New Mexico to Idaho to Missouri, it was a complete sweep for him. Hillary Clinton did well on both coasts … but the middle part of the country was kind of a sweep for Obama, and he needed to have some sort of base electorally moving forward. He's going to do well in the South and the Midwest."

Karen Finney, Democratic National Committee, on predictions the Democratic race could last months:

"There's no rush to select the candidate. We certainly hope we have our nominee chosen before we get to the convention, but it's a good thing for people to have the opportunity to weigh in on the process, and for more people to be involved in the process."

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama addresses reporters on Wednesday in Chicago. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)

Senator Barack Obama, Democratic candidate:

"Two weeks ago we were trailing Senator Clinton in some national polls by as much as 20 points. Last night … we won big states and small states, we won red states and we won blue states and we won swing states. I believe that we had an extraordinary night, it was a big victory for our campaign."

Senator Hillary Clinton, Democratic candidate:

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation."

Robin Winston, Democratic strategist, on how the Clinton-Obama race will affect the party:

"In this particular race, we've rejuvenated lots of our party. There's a lot of energy, there are record turnouts, there are people who never voted or participated before coming to meetings — and that's not going to dissipate. … We're not going to leave Denver (where the Democratic National Convention will be held in August 2008) as a party split, we're going to leave Denver as a party unified and prepared to lead this nation forward in 2009."

Ret. Maj. Gen. William Nash, Council on Foreign Relations and military correspondent for ABC, from Washington, on the Iraq war:

"I think it's more an issue of personality as opposed to platform. The platforms of each candidate on the Democratic side, and the Republican for that matter, are reasonably close together. They vary in details. The issue revolves around the personality of the individuals … and their capacity to be commander-in-chief.

Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute, on the economy:

"The contrast between the Republicans and the Democrats on the economy are stark. We also have the issue that this election could well take place in either a recession or recession-like conditions and of course that has political implications too … Unless something changes … the economy is likely to be either No. 1 or No. 2 on voters' minds."

Julianne Malveaux, political commentator, from Greensboro, N.C.:

"I think that people are not looking at race so much, or gender so much, they're looking at issues in any number of ways. Of course there are emotional resonances, people who are voting 'woman' because it's so delightfully exciting to see a woman on the ticket and doing so well, and African-Americans who are doing the same thing."

Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America -- Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot

"It's an extraordinary moment to be a Democrat, or an independent, and some Republicans are peeling off too because frankly we've never had candidates like these two. We're so used to holding our noses and going into the voting booth, and to have two people with integrity and vision is quite extraordinary."