Huckabee draws 1st blood as Super Tuesday results roll in

Last Updated: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 | 3:22 PM ET

CBC News

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee clinched the first victory Tuesday, winning West Virginia on a day when 24 states are holding primaries and caucuses.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won 18 delegates in West Virginia on Tuesday.
(Jeff Gentner/Associated Press)

Huckabee won 18 delegates in the state caucuses, beating former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in a winner-take-all GOP state convention vote.

The victory comes as millions of U.S. voters are heading to the polls on what is known as Super Tuesday, a day that could make or break Democratic and Republican candidates for the presidency.

The day began with more than 100 Democrats living overseas casting the first ballots at the stroke of midnight in Indonesia, where Illinois Senator Barack Obama lived as a child.  

In the Republican contest, longtime Arizona Senator John McCain is aiming to deliver a knockout blow in the bitter battle with his closest rival, Romney.

Polls suggest McCain could secure a majority of delegates on Tuesday, or at least enough to force Romney to drop out, the CBC's Henry Champ reported from Washington.

'Split decision' expected for Democrats

But polls indicate a tighter race for the Democrats with Obama in a dead heat nationwide with New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. Neither candidate expects to emerge with a decisive victory when the votes are tallied.

In an interview Tuesday morning on NBC's Today Show, Obama himself predicted a "split decision" ahead of the day's ballots.

Senator Barack Obama, right, has picked up key endorsements ahead of Super Tuesday, including one from longtime Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy.
(Rex Arbogast/Associated Press)

Democrats face a historic choice: the possibility of opting for an African-American or a woman as their party's presidential candidate.

The two dozen contests Tuesday were delivering 1,023 Republican and 1,681 Democratic delegates. The numbers needed to win the nominations: 1,191 Republican and 2,025 Democratic.

The first polls in the eastern U.S. are scheduled to close at 7 p.m. ET, while the California polls close at 11 p.m. ET.

Tempers flare among Republican candidates

Romney had hoped to claim victory in West Virginia, the first state to release results, but when McCain began trailing, his backers switched their support to Huckabee to keep Romney from winning.

Huckabee beat Romney on the second ballot with 51.5 per cent of the 1,133 delegates attending the state Republicans' first presidential nominating convention.

Romney took 47.4 per cent.

Texas congressman Ron Paul, the last-place finisher in the first ballot, was eliminated for the second vote.

Tempers flared between the two key Republican rivals on Tuesday as McCain attacked Romney for having a "terrible record as a governor."

Romney replied that he must be a strong contender if he's able to get under the Arizona senator's skin. 

McCain spent the first part of the day in Manhattan before heading to California, a key battleground.

"I have the judgment and the experience to lead this nation in the transcendental challenge of the 21st century, and that's the struggle against radical Islamic terrorism," McCain told a New York rally, entering to the theme from "Rocky" and an introduction from former rival Rudy Giuliani.

Meanwhile, Huckabee's campaign hopes to stay viable. Huckabee has been shut out of all other votes since the surprise Iowa caucus win.

'One of us will change history': Clinton

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, arrive at the Douglas Grafflin Elementary School in Chappaqua, N.Y., Tuesday to cast their votes in the New York Democratic primary.
(Stephen Chernin/Associated Press)

As candidates made final pushes ahead of the massive vote, both Democratic hopefuls gave indications they expect to be running against the often-billed maverick senator and Vietnam War veteran McCain, who led support of the White House's so-called "surge" in U.S. troops in Iraq.

Obama, who has targeted Clinton for her 2002 vote on a resolution that authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq, told supporters on Monday he would be the best choice for Democrats to defeat McCain because of his early and consistent opposition to the war.

"When I'm debating John McCain, he won't be able to say, 'Well, you supported the war, too' because I didn't," he said.

A raspy-voiced Clinton, in turn, focused on her health-care and economic proposals in an appearance Monday on David Letterman's Late Show, but also lightened the rancor of the rivalry with Obama.

"Barack is a friend of mine," she said. "He'll be a friend of mine when this is over no matter what happens … one of us will change history."

California, Mass. key battlegrounds

Perhaps the most crucial race could be the last to be declared — California. A win in the state's delegate-rich primary, flush with movie star endorsements and Hollywood donations rivalling some film production budgets, would potentially give a candidate in either party the clear advantage over his or her rivals.

Republican presidential hopeful Senator John McCain greets supporters at a campaign stop at Rockefeller Center Plaza in New York on Tuesday.
(Charles Dharapak/Associated Press)

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released Tuesday suggested Obama has opened a 13-point lead over Clinton in the racially and ethnically diverse state. The same survey indicated Romney held a lead of eight percentage points over McCain in California, despite the high-profile endorsement of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The California primary also highlights the difference in Republican and Democratic nomination practices. The state offers 170 Republican delegates, winner-take-all, while on the Democratic side, 370 pledged delegates will be divided proportionally, based on a percentage of votes earned by both candidates.

Further clouding California's Democratic field, another 71 Democratic unpledged or so-called "super-delegates" comprised of unelected senior party officials will attend the national convention and are free to support the candidate of their choice.

'Growing crescendo'

During his 37-hour dash across the country and back, Romney targeted Republicans disenchanted with the prospect of the maverick McCain gaining the nomination, while branding himself the true Ronald Reagan conservative at every stop.

"I think you're going to see a growing crescendo of Republican conservatives getting behind my candidacy," Romney said. "Right now, that hasn't entirely happened."

Polls also indicated McCain could break Romney's hold on Massachusetts, where Romney served two terms as governor, Republican strategist John Feehery told CBC News on Monday from Washington.

"If he can't win his home state, he's done," Feehery said of Romney.

The Super Tuesday contests are the largest in a series of polls across various states leading up to both parties' national conventions in August and September, during which delegates will select their candidates to run in the November presidential election.