Clinton and Obama draw; McCain leads in U.S. vote

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

In their hard-fought Democratic duel, Obama won 13 states and Clinton took eight, ensuring a long and difficult battle for the nomination. Clinton's wins included the key prizes of California and New York on the biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the November 4 election.

McCain won nine contests, including victories in California and the Northeast, to take a daunting lead in the Republican race. He captured a huge haul of the convention delegates who select the party's presidential nominee, taking several big states where delegates are granted on a winner-take-all basis.

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

The mixed results, with all contenders in both parties scoring at least five wins, appeared certain to prolong the hard-fought nominating races. A new round of contests in a half-dozen states are scheduled within the next week.

McCain, who lost the Republican primary race in 2000 to George W. Bush, still faces a struggle to win over conservatives in the party, who have been unhappy with his views on immigration, tax cuts and campaign finance reform.

National exit polls showed more than half of Democratic voters ranked the ability to bring change as the top attribute for a candidate. Nearly one-quarter of Democrats voting in the party's 22 contests ranked experience, Clinton's selling card, as the most important attribute.

More than half the total delegates to the Democratic convention in August and about 40 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention in September were up for grabs in Tuesday's voting.

Economic worries -- plunging housing values, rising energy and food prices, jittery financial markets and new data showing a big contraction in the service sector -- eclipsed the Iraq war as voters' top concern in both parties, exit polls showed.

Clinton won Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and her home state of New York.

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation," Clinton told supporters in New York, congratulating Obama on his wins.

Obama maintained his strong showing among black voters but also expanded support among whites, winning 40 percent in Georgia, exit polls said. Clinton, who would be the first female president, won heavy support from women and Hispanics, exit polls showed.

Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, won in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia.

"It's not all done tonight. We're going to keep on battling," Romney said in Boston.

"A lot of people have been trying to say this is a two-man race," Huckabee told supporters in Little Rock, Arkansas. "Well, you know what, it is and we're in it."

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