Clinton, McCain take early leads in voting

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton scored early "Super Tuesday" wins and Republican John McCain swept to three convincing victories as 24 U.S. states voted in contests that could help pick the presidential nominees of both parties.
Clinton and Obama took two states each in their hard-fought duel for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton won Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Obama won Georgia and his home state of Illinois.
McCain, an Arizona senator looking to score a knockout blow on rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, rolled to easy wins in Connecticut, New Jersey and Illinois on the biggest day of U.S. presidential nominating contests ahead of November's election.
Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, won in Alabama and at a convention in West Virginia. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, won that state.
All three Republicans were running close in Georgia in early returns, with the result too close to call, U.S. television networks projected.
More than half the total delegates to the Democratic party convention in August and about 40 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention in September were up for grabs. The candidates battle for delegates who vote in those party conventions to pick their candidates for the November 4 election.
Economic worries -- plunging housing values, rising energy and food prices, jittery financial markets and new data showing a big contraction in the service sector -- have eclipsed the Iraq war as voters' top concern, opinion polls showed.
Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, was battling a wave of momentum for Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president. Obama has almost caught her in national polls and taken leads in several states taking part in the coast-to-coast voting.


Source : reuters.com