Clinton, McCain win California primary

By From Staff and Wire Reports

Relying on strong turnout from California's increasingly influential Hispanic voters, Hillary Clinton captured the state's coveted Democratic presidential primary, defying pundits who had forecast a long, nail-biting night in her battle with Barack Obama.

In the Republican half of Super Tuesday's biggest presidential primary election, John McCain secured enough support from conservatives worried about the economy and the Iraq war to defeat Mitt Romney.

The races generated record voter registration, at 15.7 million voters, or about 68.5 percent of those eligible. In the San Francisco Bay area, turnout was so strong that some precincts ran out of Democratic ballots and stayed open past their normal closing times.

On campus, eager voters and political enthusiasts gathered in the Wiegand Room of the Arts and Sciences Building to watch Super Tuesday news coverage on five screens, each tuned in to a different news network, at the Pizza and the Primaries event hosted by the Political Science Student Association.

"There was a great turnout," said political science professor Jim Cottrill. "I'd never seen so much pizza eaten."

With 96 percent of the state's precincts reporting Wednesday morning, Clinton had 52 percent of the Democratic vote to Obama's 42 percent. McCain had 42 percent of the Republican tally to Romney's 34 percent.

California delivered for Clinton, but even second place may have been fruitful for Barack Obama.

The proportional system used by the Democrats means that regardless of the popular vote, both Clinton and Obama will take large shares of the state's 370 pledged delegates. The exact distribution has yet to be officially determined.

"I think Democrats are really happy with their choices and whoever gets picked will get party-wide support," said Christine Dafforn, president of the College Democrats. "All I can say is the next couple of primaries are going to be really interesting."

Despite Hillary Clinton's lead in delegates, the race remains tight, Cottrill said.

"It seems that as time goes on, (Obama's) popularity seems to grow, as people see him on the campaign trail," said Cottrill.

California was one of nine states won by Clinton on Super Tuesday, while Obama won 13 states. Clinton scored the advantage in delegates, bringing her total 845 to Obama's 765, by the latest counting on Wednesday afternoon.

The road ahead is long for the Democrats: It takes 2,025 delegates to claim their nomination.

In exit polling, nearly seven in 10 Hispanics favored Clinton, while nearly eight in 10 black voters favored Obama.

Hispanics made up a third of Tuesday's Democratic electorate, a much higher proportion than in previous primaries, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press.

McCain's own victory in California dealt a crushing blow to his closest pursuer, Romney, a former Massachusetts governor.

In the competition that counted the most, the Arizona senator had 613 delegates, to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee in incomplete counting. It takes 1,191 to win the GOP nomination.

"I don't know if it's a good thing for the party," said Jonas Pauliukonis, president of the College Republicans. "(McCain's) not a traditional Republican, and I think we'll see a shift to the left."

McCain also won in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware and his home state of Arizona -- each of them winner-take-all primaries. He also pocketed victories in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Cottrill, who teaches courses on U.S. politics, described John McCain's performance as "astonishing," especially since his campaign was widely written off last summer.

"His resurgence was pretty remarkable," Cottrill said.

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, won a series of Bible Belt victories in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, as well as his own home state. He also triumphed at the Republican West Virginia Convention.

Romney won a home state victory in Massachusetts. He also took Utah, where fellow Mormons supported his candidacy. His superior organization produced caucus victories in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Alaska and Colorado.

Turnout among Republicans paled in comparison to the number of Californians who voted in the Democratic race.

Unofficial returns found 2,286,408 voters cast ballots in the GOP race, compared to 4,010,365 who turned out in the Democratic contest, which, unlike the GOP race, permitted Independents to vote. That difference would account for some of the disparity.

Officials estimated that more than a million absentee ballots that may have been returned to polling places would not be counted until Thursday or Friday.

Registrars said they were overwhelmed by the volume of ballots received. Of the record 15.7 million voters that signed up for the primary, more than a third requested absentee ballots. About three million of those ballots were still outstanding on Election Day.

On Saturday, Louisiana and Washington state hold two-party contests, while Nebraska Democrats and Kansas Republicans make their picks.

Then comes a larger series of two-party primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia on Tuesday.

More than 168 Democratic delegates are at stake Tuesday, a sizable prize in two states and a district that are normally afterthoughts in nomination contests.

Clinton has been endorsed in Maryland by Gov. Martin O'Malley and Sen. Barbara Mikulski; Obama is backed by Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, and is expected to do well in largely black D.C.

Republicans will award 116 delegates in the trio of races dubbed the Potomac Primary.

Cottrill pointed to the fact that five months ago, many thought that Super Tuesday would have given the Democrats a definite candidate, though now it is clear the race will continue in coming weeks.

"That just means that voter turnout will be strong," said Cottrill. "People will come out because they'll feel like their vote really matters."

Reporter Richard Nieva and The Associated Press contributed to this report.