WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled to a draw on

“Super Tuesday” and John McCain took charge of the Republican race in coast-to-coast

presidential nominating battles in 24 states.

In their hard-fought Democratic duel, Obama won 13 states and Clinton took eight, ensuring a

protracted 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

to succeed President George W. Bush.

“There is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final results to know:

Our time has come,” Obama, an Illinois senator, told cheering supporters in Chicago. “Our

movement is real, and change is coming to America.”

McCain won nine contests, including victories in California and the Northeast, to take a

commanding lead in the Republican race. The Arizona senator whose campaign was all but dead

last summer 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.

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.

“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.”

RACE SET TO CONTINUE

The mixed results, with all contenders in both parties scoring at least five wins, appeared

certain to prolong the hard-fought nominating races that began in early January. A new round

of contests in a half-dozen states are scheduled within the next week.

The Clinton and Obama camps said they expected the night’s delegate count to wind up

relatively even. Overall, by the early hours of Wednesday, Clinton had 760 delegates and

Obama 692, the Washington Post said, well short of the 2,025 needed to win the nomination.

The Democratic contest has given voters the chance to nominate a candidate who would be the

first black U.S. president, Obama, or the first female president, Clinton — a New York

senator and former first lady.

In the Republican race, the Post said McCain had 570 delegates to Romney’s 251 and

Huckabee’s 175, with 1,191 needed to win.

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.

source:washingtonpost