Clinton and Obama draw while McCain ahead

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

In the biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush, Obama won 13 states and Clinton took eight.

McCain won nine contests, including victories in California and the Northeast, to take a commanding lead in the Republican race.

Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee kept their hopes alive and vowed to fight on, but could face growing questions about the viability of their campaigns. Romney won seven states and Huckabee won five.

RACE SET TO CONTINUE

The close Democratic contest, which has generated wide public interest, gives voters the chance to nominate a candidate who could be the first black U.S. president, Illinois senator Obama, or the first female president, New York senator and former first lady Clinton.

In the Republican race, the Post said McCain had 613 delegates to Romney's 269 and Huckabee's 190, with 1,191 needed to win.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and wealthy venture capitalist, has argued McCain lacks the conservative credentials to be the party nominee.

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.

But with no knock-out blow delivered, some commentators worried about a fresh round of divisiveness.

The coming contests "may only increase the pressure on campaigns that are more than willing to bare their fangs," it added.

Clinton won Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Tennessee and her home state of New York. She went into Super Tuesday battling a wave of momentum for Obama, who had surged in national polls on his message of change. New Mexico was still too close to call, U.S. media said.

Obama maintained his strong showing among black voters but also expanded support among whites, winning 40 percent in Georgia, exit polls said. Clinton 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.

Huckabee's wins were fueled by strong support from evangelical Christians, and he split votes with Romney among conservatives unhappy with McCain.

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