McCain scores in Calif., N.Y., other big states

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain won primary victories in California, New York and a string of other delegate-rich states on Super Tuesday, taking a commanding position in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

The victory in California was a crushing blow to Mitt Romney's hopes, and a Romney campaign official told NBC News that Wednesday would be a day of frank discussion about the campaign's future.

McCain also had victories in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma,  and his home state of Arizona, along with an apparent win in tightly contested Missouri.

Romney won in Massachusetts, where he was governor, and in Utah, home of the Mormon church, of which he is a member, and where he once lived. He also picked up wins in the GOP caucuses in Alaska, Colorado, North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana.

But Romney's candidacy was complicated by the success of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won across the South — his home state as well as in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia. Huckabee's victories were tempered by devastating tornadoes that killed at least 26 people in four Southern states, including Arkansas.

McCain watched returns back home in Phoenix on Tuesday night after campaigning in New York and California.

"We've won some of the biggest states in the country," McCain told cheering supporters at a rally in Phoenix before the California returns came in.

An underdog for months, he proclaimed himself the front-runner at last, and added, "I don't really mind it one bit."

Delegates are the key
For the Republicans, the key wasn't the number of states won but the number of delegates taken, and in nine of the states contested by Republicans on Tuesday, it was winner take all.

Video McCain working to prove himself Feb. 5: Republican presidential candidate John McCain thanks voters and says he will work to prove himself worthy of supporters’ faith in him. MSNBC

That gave McCain, with the wins in New York (101 delegates), New Jersey (52), Arizona (53), Connecticut (27) and Delaware (18), an advantage. California — with 170 delegates the biggest prize for the Republicans — is not a winner-take-all state for the GOP, but McCain still stood to pick up a substantial portion of those delegates.

The Arizona senator had 516 total delegates to 207 for Romney and 142 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to clinch the presidential nomination at next summer's convention in St. Paul, Minn. 

Despite the news from his campaign, Romney was still full of fight as he spoke at an election-night rally in Boston, telling supporters before the California vote was apparent that the night's results were far from conclusive.

"One thing that’s clear is that this campaign’s going on," he told supporters.

Officials in Romney's campaign sought to put the best face on the night, telling NBC News that their candidate's showing was not the result of strong support for McCain but the result of Huckabee siphoning off votes. The challenge, these officials said on condition of anonymity, will be competing with Huckabee to harness conservative disaffection with McCain.

Video Romney: ‘Time to lift America’ Feb. 5: Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney celebrates his wins in Massachusetts and Utah, and says he intends to change Washington’s direction. MSNBC

Still, the campaign reportedly was reconsidering a trip to Kansas ahead of the caucuses there on Saturday.

A two-man race?
For his part, Huckabee also vowed to continue the race and called for conservatives to rally to his campaign.

"The conservatives do have a choice," he said, "because the conservatives have a voice."

And he noted his campaign's effect on Romney. "I've got to say that Mitt Romney was right about one thing — this is a two-man race. He was just wrong about who the other man in the race was. It's me, not him," Huckabee said.

Earlier, tempers heated up between the top GOP hopefuls, with McCain attacking Romney as 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.

In West Virginia, Romney told supporters at the state Republican nominating convention that McCain’s support for global warming curbs “would effectively kill coal,” a lifeblood of the state, and just one of the McCain positions he branded as out of the conservative mainstream.

Romney had hoped to claim victory in West Virginia, but McCain backers, their candidate trailing, switched their support to Huckabee to deprive Romney of the win. Huckabee earned 18 delegates in the state.

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