Obama wins first Democratic vote on 'Super Tuesday'

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

Obama surged to victory in Georgia, a state with a big bloc of black voters who have been his strongest supporters, as he battled for advantage over Clinton on the biggest day of U.S. presidential nominating contests ahead of November's election.

"The fact that we've made so much progress I think indicates that we've got the right message," Obama said on NBC's "Today" show.

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.

The three were running close in Georgia in early returns, with the result too close to call, U.S. networks projected.

Huckabee was aided by McCain voters who switched to him to deny Romney a victory, drawing a protest from Romney's camp.

"This is what Senator McCain's inside-Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney's campaign of conservative change," Romney campaign manager Beth Myers said.

"Generally speaking, rather than blame it on someone else, I suggest that he move on," McCain told reporters. "It's a bit insulting to Gov. Huckabee, who won that, by suggesting such a thing."

Huckabee aimed for a strong showing in the South with its concentration of evangelical Christians.

Clinton and Obama had split the first four significant contests in January and spent heavily on advertising from coast to coast.

Clinton voted in suburban New York, accompanied by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Obama voted in Chicago and then settled in for a possibly long night.

Because Democrats distribute delegates in proportion to their vote statewide and in individual congressional districts, candidates can come away with large numbers of delegates even in states they lose. Aides for both campaigns predicted the contest would continue for weeks or months to come.

McCain has struggled to win over conservatives in the party, who have been unhappy with his views on immigration, tax cuts and campaign finance reform.

(For more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)