McCain Dominates Big States

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McCain, Huckabee Score Important Wins

Voters in 24 states and American Samoa headed to the polls on Feb. 5 for the largest-ever "Super Tuesday" election. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) racked up crucial early primary victories from New York to California, while former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won a series of contests in the South.

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Huckabee vaulted from obscurity to the top tier with his surprise victory in Iowa a month ago but had struggled to replicate that success. He showed yesterday that he continues to attract a lot of support from evangelicals.

But Huckabee's continued presence also served to split the anti-McCain vote, frustrating Romney, who has tried to turn the campaign into a one-on-one confrontation with the longtime senator from Arizona. GOP strategists think much of Huckabee's support would have gone to Romney had Huckabee not remained in contention.

"Huckabee is preventing Romney from winning enough delegates to be competitive," said Sara M. Taylor, a former Bush White House political director who is neutral in the race. "He's only cemented McCain's front-runner status."

Hoping for some early momentum on Super Tuesday, Romney flew through the night Monday to arrive in Charleston, W.Va., to appear at the state's GOP convention. "I am the only candidate who can stop John McCain," Romney said at a breakfast meeting with West Virginia Republicans.

Romney went on to win 41 percent of votes at the convention, followed by Huckabee with 33 percent and McCain with 15 percent, but fell short of the majority required for victory. On the second ballot, McCain's supporters threw their support to Huckabee, giving him the victory and denying Romney the 18 delegates at stake.

Romney campaign manager Beth Myers denounced the outcome: "Unfortunately, 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."

McCain and Huckabee dismissed the complaint as sour grapes. "Well, yesterday, he was chiding me. He said not to whine," Huckabee said. "Today, he's changed his position on whining, and today he's for whining. So once again, Mitt has been able to take both sides of all issues, including whining."

That tone was reflected in the last 24 hours, in which McCain and Romney launched harsh television and Internet ads accusing each other of being closet liberals. The two also quarreled over comments by Romney that McCain said disparaged former senator Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.).