February 5, 2008 Super Tuesday preview Play video

WASHINGTON (AP) - John McCain dug in for a long night that could
bring him close to the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday,
challenged by Mitt Romney, who campaigned as if conservatism itself
were on the line. Calmer, but with stakes also sky high, Barack
Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton predicted this day of decision
would only keep their rivalry alive.

Voters participated in nearly two dozen contests coast to coast,
some in weather as stormy as the presidential competition itself.
Super Tuesday offered a treasure chest of delegates, although not
enough to clinch a nomination.

In West Virginia, Mike Huckabee prevailed in the state's GOP
nominating convention to take the first prize of the day - 18
delegates. The former Arkansas governor, distant in national
polling, won a convention majority when McCain's supporters threw
their votes behind him. Romney flew through the night from
California to address the convention, but fell short.

Tempers heated up between the top GOP hopefuls, with McCain
attacking his opponent for having a "terrible record as governor"
and Romney retorting that he must be in strong contention if he's
so able to get under the Arizona senator's skin.

And in West Virginia, Romney told supporters that McCain's
support for global warming curbs "would effectively kill coal," a
lifeblood of the state, and just one of

McCain rallied in Manhattan before flying to California, the
state offering the richest delegate prize Tuesday. Nationally,
opinion polls suggested McCain had built an advantage over the
former Massachusetts governor.

"I have the judgment and the experience to lead this nation in
the transcendental challenge of the 21st century, and that's the
struggle against radical Islamic terrorism," McCain told a New
York rally, entering to the theme from "Rocky" and an
introduction from former rival Rudy Giuliani.

The tightness of the Democratic race and the sheer scale of the
voting in nearly two dozen states left the candidates wary of
making predictions as they offered last minute pitches.

"We're all kind of guessing about what it's all going to mean
because it's never happened before," Clinton said. The New York
senator said she found it all "intriguing and somewhat
mystifying."

Obama said a "split decision" was likely. "I don't think
today's going to end up being decisive," the Illinois senator
said.

Many voters seemed split, too, and late to make up their minds.

Linda Ster, a 44-year-old Nashville social worker, juggled
Clinton's experience with Obama's vision of change and decided
Monday night she favored the latter - and not another Clinton in
the White House.

"I don't just want change, I want radical change," she said.
"I have voted for a Clinton already. I want something different -
way different - this time."

In Buffalo, N.Y., Paul Dissek, 63, waited alone in the fog
outside a library for the polling station to open. A year after
retiring from Bethlehem Steel, he lost his health coverage and pays
for it himself now. His choice: Clinton, who proposes to make
health insurance mandatory.

"I lost my health insurance with the steel plant," he said.
"I figure she'd be the one to get it."

A frigid rain fell in parts of the Northeast, part of a wintry
mess expected in the region, and voters braced for snow in a large
corridor from southwest Kansas to northern Michigan. A winter
onslaught was forecast in Illinois later in the day.

In Topsfield, Mass., where a steady stream of voters filed to a
polling place in a cold rain, Mary Jordan, 43, a teacher's aide,
said she didn't make her decision until she was in the polling
booth. Voting Republican, she went for Romney, the state's former
governor, because of his business experience, while offering no one
a glowing endorsement. "I think he's the least unlikable," she
said. "I really didn't like any of them."

The Iraq war was central to Kieth Anderson, 34, when he voted
for Obama at a Phoenix church. He's lost friends in the war and
wants others still serving to come home.

"I'm certain my friends will be back in a year if he's
elected."

Romney sought until the end to exploit the right's mistrust of
McCain, who opposed President Bush's tax cuts when they were
introduced, departed from orthodoxy on immigration, favors mandates
to slow global warming and led campaign finance reforms that
activists say trampled on their speech rights.

Huckabee focused on the South, his continued candidacy an open
question - as was Romney's viability if he couldn't pull off
surprises Tuesday.

McCain and Romney also clashed from afar over a letter that Bob
Dole - the former senator and decorated World War II veteran -
wrote in support of McCain. "Well, it's probably the last person I
would have wanted to have write a letter for me," Romney said on
Fox News, likening McCain's candidacy to Dole's losing 1996
presidential bid. McCain called on his rival to apologize. "This
is no way to end up this campaign," McCain said, "by attacking a
genuine American war hero."

Romney told reporters he meant no such offense. "I think very
highly of Senator Dole," he said, "but I do not think highly of
the mental set that says we should choose our nominee based on how
many years they've served and how long they've waited in line."

Clinton voted near her home in Chappaqua, N.Y., accompanied by
husband Bill and daughter Chelsea. "You're a Democrat, right?"
election worker Evan Norris joked. "True blue" she responded,
laughing. She said of Super Tuesday: "The stakes are huge."

In Illinois, Obama supporters expressed pride for the home-state
senator as they voted. "We have something great to vote for
today," said Catherine Braendel, 44, a marketing consultant who
lives down the street from Obama in Chicago.

Heather Holliday, 28, a Chicago sales executive, credited McCain
with wisdom earned as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and as a
lawmaker who looks at both sides of an issue. She voted for him.

"He understands war better than the others," she said. "He's
been through hell and back." McCain "understands what it is not
to be safe."

Her comments spoke to McCain's appeal to Republican moderates
and independent voters. But he's struggled to close the sale with
his party's base after coming strikingly far without its solid
support. "I will preserve my proud conservative Republican
credentials" while extending a practiced hand to Democrats, he
promised.

After months when it was all about expectations and momentum,
not to mention confusion, real numbers finally became important.

The two dozen contests Tuesday were delivering 1,023 Republican
and 1,681 Democratic delegates. The number needed to win the
nomination: 1,191 Republican and 2,025 Democratic.

John Edwards' departure after South Carolina's primary
simplified the math but little else on the Democratic side.

Since winning that state, Obama has collected a succession of
marquee endorsements - several of them named Kennedy - and pulled
into a statistical tie with Clinton in a national poll and in
California, Tuesday's biggest prize with 370 Democratic delegates.

The two were campaigning for history as well - Clinton seeking
to become the first female president, Obama the first black one.

Little separates them on most issues, including universal health
coverage, ending U.S. military involvement in Iraq and raising
taxes on the rich. And neither has accounted fully for all their
proposed spending.

Party rules were stacked against a Tuesday knockout for
Democrats. All their primaries and caucuses were awarding delegates
proportionately, so coming in second counted. In the Republican
field, nine contests offered all delegates to the winner.
---
Associated Press writers Teresa M. Walker, Carolyn Thompson, Don
Babwin, Dave Carpenter, Ashley M. Heher Jim Fitzgerald, Beth Fouhy,
Glen Johnson, Jim Kuhnhenn, Nedra Pickler, Libby Quaid and Liz
Sidoti contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)