Super Tuesday vote and caucas results, from the Washington Times:
Moderates fuel big McCain wins:
Sen. John McCain won a series of big-state victories and took a commanding lead in delegates in yesterday’s Super Tuesday contests, but his weakness among conservatives was exposed by a string of wins for Mike Huckabee in the South and Mitt Romney out West. Mr. Huckabee’s surprising Southern strength and Mr. Romney’s organizational skills in Mountain West caucuses denied Mr. McCain the chance to claim a mandate in the race, leaving him to salvage a message last night. “We won a number of important victories in the closest thing we’ve ever had to a national primary,” Mr. McCain said at his postelection party in Arizona.
…But the results exposed Mr. McCain’s continuing problems with conservative voters. Exit polls showed that only in Connecticut did Mr. McCain actually win a plurality of self-identified conservative voters, barely topping Mr. Romney in the Northeastern state. In every other state, he trailed Mr. Huckabee, Mr. Romney or both. In Utah he was tied for second with Rep. Ron Paul, well behind Mr. Romney, among conservative voters. Even in his own home state of Arizona, Mr. McCain trailed badly among conservatives, with just 36 percent to Mr. Romney’s 47 percent. And in California, Mr. Romney won nearly half of conservative voters, with 48 percent, according to the MSNBC exit polls.
Recognizing that, Mr. McCain took pains in his speech last night to tell conservatives he is one of them. “I will work hard to ensure that the conservative philosophy and principles of our great party … will again win the votes of a majority of the American people and defeat any candidate our friends on the other side nominate,” he said.
Clinton, Obama carve up country
Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton split up the electoral map on Super Tuesday with Mr. Obama winning a majority of smaller, red states while Mrs. Clinton captured the biggest prizes of the night. He made inroads with male voters and in the predominantly white Midwestern and mountain states, and won substantial victories with black voters. Mrs. Clinton’s strength with women and Hispanic voters helped her capture her delegate-rich home state of New York and California. Based on projections, Mr. Obama had won 13 states and Mrs. Clinton had won eight, allowing him to claim momentum while her big-state wins would help her fundraise and tout wider support.
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Associated Press exit polls showed that Mr. Obama was starting to take away some of Mrs. Clinton’s strong support among female voters. He also held an advantage with white men in several states. She was winning about 60 percent of Hispanic voters, down slightly from previous polls and results in Nevada last month that showed her with support from more than two-thirds of Hispanic voters. But Mr. Obama won Hispanic voters in Illinois, and his campaign said he was doing better than expected with that population in Arizona and New Mexico. Both campaigns said yesterday that they think the Super Tuesday delegate counts will be “inconclusive” toward the overall nomination and were looking ahead to contests in Maine, Louisiana and the Washington region.