Next Phase of GOP Race: A Marathon or a Sprint?

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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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Also yesterday, other Republicans began calling for the way to be cleared for McCain.

"I think the decision's been made," Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer said in an interview. "It looks to me that John McCain is the nominee of our party." As such, he added: "When it's clear that there's a front-runner and a person's going to be the nominee, to not focus on the real objective, which is to beat the Democrats, is a waste of time."

Not everyone was ready for the contest to end. "Here in Texas, we have not had a chance to have our say yet, and we certainly hope Texans will play a large role in that decision," said the state's party chairman, Tina J. Benkiser. "If the election were held today in the state, I don't know who would win."

After the Washington area contests on Tuesday, Republicans will hold a primary in Wisconsin on Feb. 19 before a big-delegate day on March 4, when Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island will vote. Those four states will award a total of 265 delegates, the biggest single-day haul remaining on the calendar.

For Romney, the challenge is to continue raising doubts about McCain among conservatives, who have never trusted the senator's commitment to their causes, and in the hope that the McCain campaign could unexpectedly implode, as it did last summer.

Aides say that Romney will try to raise concerns at the CPAC conference this morning. But winning more states during the next month may be the best way to make Republicans question McCain's viability. Romney planned to campaign in Baltimore tonight ahead of Maryland's primary.

Huckabee has targeted evangelical voters and social conservatives in his bid. His success in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Tennessee on Super Tuesday again demonstrated the power of his appeal and the distance McCain needs to go to win over that constituency.

But Gary L. Bauer, president of American Values and a leading voice for the religious right, said it is time for conservatives to make their peace with McCain. "We're entering a new stage where we need to start coming together," he said in an interview.

While aides were working on McCain's campaign schedule for the next few days, Black said they would focus on Virginia as well as Washington state and Kansas, both of which will hold caucuses on Saturday. It was unclear whether McCain will visit Kansas, where Republicans are split between moderates and conservatives and where Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) is working to line up support for him.

McCain will work aggressively to win over Washington area voters in the coming week. His campaign is airing television ads in the District, Maryland and Virginia, where it is counting on retiring Rep. Thomas M. Davis III to deploy his considerable political operation to boost the senator's chances in that state. In Maryland, Black said McCain will probably prevail because he has support among the state's more moderate Republicans.

"I expect Virginia to be a huge three-way battleground, so we'll concentrate our effort there for a couple of days," Black said.

Eilperin reported from Phoenix. Staff writers Peter Baker and Glenn Kessler and political researcher Alice Crites contributed to this report from Washington.