Super Tuesday Begins In Turmoil

(From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
   By Jackie Calmes

        As voters flocked to polls for the single biggest day in presidential nominating history, Democrats braced for weeks of more battling between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. For Republicans, the prospect that John McCain could wrap up the nomination had rival Mitt Romney -- allied with a host of conservative talk-show celebrities -- intensifying a fight for what the Romney side calls "the heart and soul" of the party.

        Early results held few surprises. Mr. Romney won his home-state of Massachusetts, where he had been a one-term governor, while Mr. McCain won one of the night's biggest prizes, New York, as well as three other Northeast states: Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware. He also took Illinois.

        Longshot candidate Mike Huckabee won the state he once governed, Arkansas. He also won Alabama and West Virginia, and was neck-and-neck in Georgia with the other two, reflecting his appeal to fellow evangelical conservatives who were a big majority of the Republican vote there.

        On the Democratic side, Sens. Clinton and Obama easily won their home-states of New York and Illinois, respectively -- the second- and third-largest baskets of delegates, though Democrats award delegates proportional to each candidate's vote in the state.

        Sen. Obama also won big in Georgia -- in an early indication of his appeal in states with a significant black population -- and took Delaware. But Sen. Clinton won in another Southern state, Tennessee, which has fewer black voters than others in the region. She also won in her former home-state, Arkansas, where she was once first lady, and in Oklahoma.

        The only early surprise was in Massachusetts, where Sen. Clinton won despite high-profile support for Sen. Obama from Sen. Edward Kennedy and others of his clan, Sen. John Kerry and Gov. Deval Patrick.

        In California, the grand prize for delegates, the contests in both parties were close, especially on the Republican side, exit polls showed. Mr. Romney, sensing that he was gaining on Mr. McCain, scheduled a red-eye flight for a primary-day visit to the state.

        Stoking the fires on the Republican side was the outcome from the first of 24 states' party nominating contests. West Virginia Republicans, at a convention yesterday afternoon, voted on a second ballot to award most of their 30 delegates to Mr. Huckabee, provoking cries of foul from Romney forces.

        Mr. Romney won the first West Virginia vote, but fell short of a majority. On the next ballot, McCain supporters defected to Mr. Huckabee to deny victory to Mr. Romney. The Romney campaign accused Mr. McCain, the Arizona senator, of "a back-room deal" typical of Washington insiders, in keeping with Mr. Romney's positioning of himself as an outsider who will change politics in the capital.

        The outcome in West Virginia and Alabama, and the tight three-way race in Georgia, was evidence of a dynamic that Mr. Romney had feared: Mr. Huckabee, the former Baptist preacher, was splitting the conservative Republican vote with him, giving Mr. McCain -- the choice of moderates and Republican-leaning independents -- an edge in many states.

        Mr. Romney, despite a socially liberal record in Massachusetts, has tried to establish himself as the conservative most in the Ronald Reagan mold. He hoped for a two-man race against Mr. McCain, who is anathema to many conservative Republicans for his moderate and maverick record.

        Beyond the nominating fight, the bitterness of the Romney-McCain battle in recent days has potential longer-term ramifications for their party. On Mr. Romney's side are some of the best-known conservative talk-show hosts in the nation, including Rush Limbaugh. In recent days they have aired increasingly personal attacks against Mr. McCain, even threatening not to vote if he becomes the nominee.

        Many Republican strategists and leaders nationwide expected Mr. McCain to become the party's presumptive nominee by the time delegates are tallied, probably today. Especially if the Democrats' fight drags on into March or even April, the early Republican decision normally would mean a big advantage for Mr. McCain: He could effectively turn his attention toward the November election and move to the political center to attract independents' votes.

        Instead, yesterday's blistering back-and-forth between Mr. McCain on the one side and Mr. Romney and his broadcast allies on the other indicated that the Arizona senator -- should he become the nominee -- will have to spend time repairing relations with conservatives.

        The 24 states with contests yesterday covered every region. In 19 states, both parties were holding primaries or caucuses. In three others, Democrats alone were caucusing, and in two more, only Republicans were having caucuses.

        Of the Democrats, Mr. Obama entered the "Super Tuesday" campaigning with momentum from his landslide victory in South Carolina's primary late last month. Already both he and Mrs. Clinton were campaigning and advertising in Ohio, which has party primaries March 4, in anticipation that the Democratic contest would last at least that long. Several races later in February favor Mr. Obama, raising the stakes in yesterday's contests for Mrs. Clinton.

        The Democrats have toned down their rhetoric after a divisive, racially tinged campaign in South Carolina. Not so on the Republican side.

        Mr. Limbaugh, on his nationally syndicated show yesterday, condemned Mr. McCain for a "disgraceful" and "dirty little trick" in releasing what the host said was a private letter from Robert Dole, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, on Mr. McCain's behalf. In the letter, Mr. Dole invoked Mr. McCain's years as a Vietnam prisoner of war and vouched for Mr. McCain's conservatism. "Whoever wins the Republican nomination will need your enthusiastic support," Mr. Dole wrote Mr. Limbaugh. "Two terms for the Clintons are enough."

        Earlier, Mr. Romney had said on the Fox network that Mr. Dole is "probably the last person I would have wanted to write a letter for me," and suggested Mr. McCain's nomination would be as unsuccessful for the party as Mr. Dole's was in 1996, against then-President Bill Clinton. In turn, Mr. McCain demanded Mr. Romney apologize to Mr. Dole, Mr. Romney sought to clarify his remark, and Mr. Limbaugh then came to Mr. Romney's defense.