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Clinton, McCain win in California

BY REID J. EPSTEIN | reid.epstein@newsday.com

12:50 AM EST, February 6, 2008

Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton finished off a strong Super Tuesday by claiming the biggest prize of the day - the California primary. (AP Photos / February 5, 2008)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. John McCain won primary elections in California, cable networks are projecting, giving each of them coast-to-coast big-state victories over presidential rivals in their parties.

Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama both come out of Tuesday's Democratic primaries and caucuses in strong positions after the two senators split states in the East, Midwest and Mountain West.

Clinton won Democratic contests in Arkansas, Arizona, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee and American Samoa. Obama has won his home state of Illinois, Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah.

Missouri remains too close to call, though MSNBC declared Obama the apparent winner.

McCain will win Republican contests in Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Oklahoma, according to Associated Press and cable network projections.

The surprise on the GOP side is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Gov. Mitt Romney will win his native Massachusetts, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah, which has a large Mormon population. He is in third place in five other states.

Tuesday's results may not be immediately known, particularly in the Obama-Clinton contest. Democrats allocate delegates to their national convention on a proportional basis per congressional district. Some GOP states, like New York and New Jersey, are winner-take-all, while in others congressional districts are winner-take-all.

The Associated Press reported Clinton beating Obama in delegates, 429-349. The AP said McCain took 371 delegates, Romney 160 and Huckabee 128.

In Manhattan, Clinton gave what amounted to a general election speech to supporters. She spoke of President George W. Bush and Republicans she said she will defeat, but didn't make negative references or allusions to Obama.

"I won't let anybody swift boat my campaign," she said, referring to John Kerry's failed 2004 campaign.

Obama, speaking in Chicago, took several shots at Clinton as he told supporters that Tuesday night's results prove his campaign's message of hope has resonated.

"Our time has come," he said. "Our movement is real and change is coming to America."

After months of portraying himself as an underdog, McCain seized the mantle of front-runner.

"I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner for the nomination," he told supporters in Phoenix. "And I don't really mind it one bit."

Speaking to supporters in Little Rock, Huckabee laced his speech with Biblical and sports references while declaring rival Mitt Romney's campaign dead.

"A lot of people have been trying to say that this is a two-man race," he said. "You know what? It is, and we're in it."

Romney told supporters in Boston that he has no intention of leaving the race.

"We're going to go all the way to the convention," he said. "We're going to win this thing and go to the White House."

The big prizes left to be determined include California and Missouri.