Two Races, One Big Day

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Going for Votes on Super Tuesday

Democratic and Republican presidential candidates campaign across the nation as voters go to the polls on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008, when 24 states hold primaries, caucuses or state conventions.

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Cory A. Booker, the mayor of Newark, told reporters that Obama heads into Super Tuesday with "the big mo" -- momentum -- and said the wave of votes that would break for him was "like a freight train coming."

In the equally contentious Republican battle, the contenders sparred from a distance yesterday. McCain, energized but only cautiously optimistic, tried to deflect concerns that he is not conservative enough; Romney dismissed predictions that his campaign is nearing its end.

McCain added to a string of recent endorsements, announcing support from former New York governor George E. Pataki, who argued that McCain stands out in the GOP field for his national security experience and ability to reach out to independents and to Democrats.

"These are times that demand experienced, principled leadership. That leader is Senator John McCain," Pataki said at an event at Grand Central Terminal. "No one can bring the American people together in these challenging times better than John McCain."

McCain enters Super Tuesday's balloting with enormous momentum from victories in Florida and South Carolina, along with several high-profile endorsements from leading figures in the GOP establishment. But Romney showed no signs of giving up as he jetted from state to state with dozens of reporters in tow.

More than 1,000 delegates are at stake in today's Republican contests. Several states, including New York, are winner-take-all prizes that, with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee dividing conservatives' votes with Romney, could provide McCain with a sizable, and potentially insurmountable, lead in the delegate count by the time the votes are counted tonight.

Campaigning in Atlanta, Romney said he senses a "shift in the tide" as Republicans contemplated McCain as their potential nominee. "We will go on and continue on to rack up delegates, and I am planning on winning this nomination," he said.

A strong showing by McCain would ratify his status as the party's choice, even if he does not technically secure the number of delegates to claim the nomination. Conversely, victories by Romney in a number of the bigger states could call into question the party faithful's willingness to accept McCain, long viewed with skepticism by many on the right, as their standard-bearer.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the campaign is braced for early positive coverage of McCain's victories in Northeastern states, but he added that results in the West would change the day's story line. "When we wake up Wednesday morning, there will be a realization it will be a long, hard slog to the convention," he said.

Seven of the 21 states holding GOP contests today are "looking good for us," he said, pointing to Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, West Virginia, Montana and North Dakota, while Georgia and California came "in play the last few days." Those states have 419 of the day's 1,081 delegates at stake.

Romney added a last-minute trip to the last of those states, going to Long Beach yesterday evening for a rally before an enthusiastic crowd of about 2,000. "Something is happening in California," he said. "I think the course of our party will be set by what happens in California tomorrow."

At every stop in a whirlwind tour of battleground states, Romney has continued to knock McCain as a "liberal" who votes for higher taxes and wants to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens. He regularly insists that it has become a race between him and McCain, even as Huckabee refuses to drop out.