See below for more updates.
SCORECARD:
GOP: McCain 9, Romney 7, Huckabee 5,
DEM: Obama 13, Clinton 9
UPDATED WINNERS LIST:
MASSACHUSETTS:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: Hillary Clinton
CONNECTICUT:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Barack Obama
NEW YORK:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Hillary Clinton
NEW JERSEY:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Hillary Clinton
DELAWARE:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Barack Obama
GEORGIA:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: Barack Obama
WEST VIRGINIA:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: No Dem Race
ALABAMA:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: Barack Obama
TENNESSEE:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: Hillary Clinton
ARKANSAS:
GOP: Mike Huckabee
DEM: Hillary Clinton
ILLINOIS:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Barack Obama
MISSOURI:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Barack Obama
OKLAHOMA:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Hillary Clinton
KANSAS:
GOP: No GOP race
DEM: Barack Obama
MINNESOTA:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: Barack Obama
NORTH DAKOTA:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: Barack Obama
COLORADO:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: Barack Obama
UTAH:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: Barack Obama
ARIZONA:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Hillary Clinton
IDAHO:
GOP: No GOP Race
DEM:Barack Obama
MONTANA:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: No Dem Race
NEW MEXICO:
GOP: No GOP Race
DEM:
CALIFORNIA:
GOP: John McCain
DEM: Hillary Clinton
ALASKA:
GOP: Mitt Romney
DEM: Barack Obama
AMERICAN SAMOA:
GOP: No GOP Race
DEM: Hillary Clinton
Salon breaks down the numbers and takes a look at what's next.
Time Magazine has these fascinating numbers about the popular vote on Super Tuesday:
TOTAL VOTES CAST
Clinton: 50.2% (7,347,971)
Obama: 49.8% (7,294,851)
McCain: 43.1% (3,611,459)
Romney: 35.4% (2,961,834)
Huckabee: 21.5% (1,796,729)
For grand totals, vastly more Democrats than Republicans voted yesterday;
Democratic votes for Clinton and Obama: 14,622,822 (63.6%)
Republican votes for McCain, Romney and Huckabee: 8,370,022 (36.4%)Put another way, the Clinton/Obama race drew 76% more voters than the McCain/Romney/Huckabee race.
The Democratic race in New Mexico is still too close to call. The AP reports Wednesday afternoon:
The day after Super Tuesday, less than 100 votes separated Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, four precincts were still out and more than 16,000 ballots remained to be counted.
With 180 of 184 precincts reporting, Obama held a slim lead -- 65,036 votes, compared with 64,965 for Clinton. Both had roughly 48 percent of the vote.
Clinton and Obama are vying for 26 of New Mexico's 38 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Twelve so-called super delegates are not bound by caucus results.
State Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon said results from four precincts were delayed because the county chairs could not be reached. About 16,870 provisional ballots also remained to be tallied.
New Mexico is the last of 22 states that held Democratic primaries and caucuses Tuesday to report a winner.
Significantly greater-than-expected turnout surprised state party officials. Voters often met with long lines and many polling sites across the state ran short of ballots.
Matthew Yglesias looks ahead past Super Tuesday:
Now the landscape gets much more favorable for Obama. On Saturday, it's Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington. Then on Sunday it's Maine. Then Tuesday offers Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Then February 19 offers Wisconsin and Hawaii. That's a lot of states, but not a ton of delegates. On March 4 comes the big showdown in Texas and Ohio. The question is whether Obama can build up enough momentum between now and March 4 to put Clinton away, or whether Clinton can draw enough blood in the intermediate states to shut him down on the March 4 firewall.
Who wins that is anyone's guess at this point. One thing I can predict is that you'll see a lot of handwringing about how this fight is dooming the Democratic Party. It's all, as best I can tell, total nonsense. Disagreeing about which of two strong leaders should go try to implement a pretty widely agreed upon vision of national policy is a healthy thing to do. Meanwhile, the stuff that really matters for general election purposes won't for many months.
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo sees the Dem race going all the way to Denver:
Before we give way to the night, let me try to pull together some rough thoughts on what happened here tonight. It's probably best to start with the indisputable facts. I haven't had a chance to look at the popular vote. But every estimate I've seen says this was close to an exact tie in delegates. And adding those delegates won today, to all those won in the earlier contests and all the pledged super delegates, Hillary, I believe I heard was above by about 50.
...
The flip side of the proportional representation in delegates is that not only does it allow a challenger like Obama not to get put away early, it also makes it difficult to put away an opponent late. The conventional wisdom is that Obama will do well in this weekend's and next Tuesday's contests. But if he does, proportionality will reign there too. It's hard to see where this doesn't go all the way to the convention.
Ben Smith at Politico reports that the Obama camp is going to be leaning on the Super Delegates:
Obama, at his Chicago press conference just now, lays out his path to the nomination, which depends first on having a majority of pledged delegates."If this contest comes down to superdelegates, we are going to be able to say we have more pledged delegates, which means the Democratic voters have spoken. Those superdelegates, those party insiders would have to think long and hard how they would approach the nomination," he said.
"The argument we would be making to superdelegates is, if we come into the convention with more pledged delegates then i think we can make a very strong argument that our constituencies have spoken and I think that's going to be pretty improtant when it comes to the general election," he says.
Some Wednesday morning spin from the Clinton camp, in an email sent to reporters:
Tremendous Victories: Hillary yesterday won the largest states and the most coveted prizes, California and New York. Hillary won red states, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, blue states, Massachusetts and New Jersey, and a purple state, Arizona. Hillary won both with and without institutional support, overcoming high-profile endorsements in Massachusetts to pull the upset of the day.
The Bottom Line: "With California cementing a series of wins across the country, Ms. Clinton can claim a slight advantage," writes the Washington Post's editorial board. Hillary continues to lead Sen. Obama in the race for thousands of delegates and superdelegates nationwide.
Youth for Hillary: According to exit polls, Hillary yesterday won 18-29 year olds in California, home to more young adults than any other state. Hillary also won 18-29 year olds in Massachusetts, home to more than 250 college and universities.
The Politico's take on the GOP night:
John McCain came out of Super Tuesday with what he needed most, a big batch of delegates. He now has more than twice as many as his nearest rival, enough to bolster a widespread perception that there is no halting his steady-if-staggering path to the Republican nomination.Mike Huckabee came out of Super Tuesday with a shot in the arm. His surprising string of Southern victories is hardly adequate to make him president but is more than enough to justify his staying in the race in a Happy Warrior role.
Mitt Romney came out of Super Tuesday with a serious problem. Huckabee's success means he will not get the one-on-one race against McCain he has been hoping for. And his own failures -- he has yet to win a primary except in three states where he has deep personal roots -- mean his campaign increasingly exudes an air of implausibility, even desperation.
The Wall Street Journal writes about what they are calling Obama's "Caucus State Magic:
As The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, Obama's campaign made the caucus states a central focus of their Feb. 5 strategy. These smaller states have fewer delegates in play, but victories are usually awarded to candidates with the best ground operation. Obama's campaign has prided itself on its ground game, relying on thousands of volunteers and a tightly orchestrated get-out-the-vote operation.
Perhaps the final spin of the night from the Clinton camp?
Clinton ends a truly Super Tuesday with a California win.After showing that she can win in red states and blue states, in rural areas and big cities and from East to West and everywhere in between, Hillary Clinton ended a truly super Tuesday with a big California win.
Even though a Reuters poll showed Barack Obama winning California by 13 points, Hillary Clinton won the Golden State.
Senator Obama made an unprecedented effort to win CA -- he campaigned throughout the state and his campaign ended its efforts in the Golden State with a large rally over the weekend. He spent considerably on TV in CA and a 527 organization also did so on his behalf.
Latest Obama spin, from the press office:
Obama wins a clear majority of Super Tuesday states
Kos makes a point about big name endorsements, and why those Mayors may be a better bet:
As I've said before, the best endorsements are mayors with patronage machines. SoCal is going HUGE for Hillary, and that's because of the L.A. machine working on her behalf. Compare to senators and congressmen which don't have machines, and then take a look at Massachusetts.
Update: Looking good early for Obama in Alaska. Obama will likely win the battle of the states 14-10. He actually managed to make California unimportant.
Update II: A friend seconds my thing about mayors, saying he saw it in action in New Haven all day. Those mayors are the key. For real.
Record turnout is seen in California, the big prize of the Super Tuesday night:
Millions of Californians cast their ballots before the polls finally closed tonight in the nation's largest state primary, the earliest presidential contest in the state's history and the first in decades to give their votes enough muscle to help crown the Democratic and Republican nominees.
Elections officials predicted exceptional voter turnout throughout the state, probably driven by the furious last-minute round of campaigning by the candidates and the absence of clear favorite in the Democratic race between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois or the Republican contest between Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Exit polls showed tight races in both parties.
An emerging media theme tonight, courtesy of The Hill:
Highly publicized big name endorsements did not help Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) win some of the key battleground states in the Democratic primary Tuesday night.
Obama received major endorsements from Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry in Massachusetts, as well as Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Gov. Janet Napolitano in Arizona but he failed to win any of the states.
Political pundits have made much of Obama's endorsements, especially the support of Kennedy. In the end, it was not enough to close the gap in Massachusetts or to wrest away the victory from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) in Missouri and Arizona.
More Hillary Clinton spin, after wins in Missouri and Arizona (UPDATE 12:45AM WEDNESDAY -- THE AP HAS REVERSED ITS CALL ON MISSOURI, AND GIVEN IT TO OBAMA):
Southwest to Midwest, Clinton Picks Up Two More Toss Up StatesTwo more closely contested toss-up states have gone for Hillary Clinton.
MISSOURI
Barack Obama outspent Hillary by $300,000 in TV ads in Missouri.
He also benefited from the endorsements of high-profile surrogates across the state such as Representatives Carnahan and Clay, and Senator McCaskill, all of whom actively campaigned for him and appeared in ads on his behalf.
Despite these challenges - and with the help of Kansas City Congressman Emanuel Cleaver and Former Majority Leader Dick Gephardt - Hillary Clinton won this important toss-up state.
ARIZONA
Both candidates competed fiercely in Arizona, visiting the state, and investing resources in the state.
In addition to the endorsement of Governor Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama visited Arizona twice, spent $1.3 million in television advertisements, put an estimated 15 staff on the ground and opened two offices.
HuffPost's Sam Stein, listening into a mid-evening Obama conference call reports that his camp is claiming a delegate lead:
Plouffe cited big wins in Illinois (110 delegates to Clinton's 43) compared to a narrow win for Sen. Hillary Clinton in New York (142-90) as producing a fifteen delegate net gain in the candidates' home state match-up. In addition, Plouffe said that Obama would emerge from the Kansas primary with 23 of the state's 32 delegates and from the Minnesota primary with 46 of that state's 72 delegates.
The Hill reports that Huckabee is calling it a two-person race:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, picking up on the rhetoric of rival Mitt Romney, said Tuesday night after a strong showing in the South that the contest for the GOP nomination is a two man race, ostensibly between himself and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).After a win in West Virginia on Tuesday afternoon and two more victories in his home state and Alabama early on Tuesday night, Huckabee addressed the state of the race.
"Lots of people are saying it's a two-man race," Huckabee said. "Well, it is, and we're in it."
The New York Times is reporting on the Clinton camp's spin from a conference call with reporters:
10:17 p.m. | Clinton Conference Call: The Clinton folks holding a conference call with reporters. Mark Penn, Mrs. Clinton's top strategist, is telling reporters on the conference call that voters who made up their minds in the last day tended to support Mrs. Clinton. He says that suggests that the "momentum was turning" and given more time, she would have done even better.That, of course, is what the Obama camp has been saying - that the momentum was with him and that given more time.....well, you know.
Guy Cecil, Mrs. Clinton's political and field director, says on the conference call that it's too early to say where the race stands on delegates, particularly before the polls close in Missouri, Arizona, New Mexico and, of course, California.
Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton's spokesman: "This is not going to be decided any time in the near future, as far as we can see."
Some more Obama camp spin:
An Early Look Inside the Numbers (As of 9:45 pm CST)
Surprisingly strong performances in Senator Clinton's backyard has Senator Obama in a strong position on Super Tuesday.
Senator Obama Wins Home State Head-to-Head
Obama won his home state by 67 delegates (110-43; 153 total). Clinton won her home state by 52 delegates (142-90; 232 total). Among home states, Obama won a net delegate margin of 15. That's a good number - but even more impressive when you consider that New York had 79 more delegates up for grabs than Illinois.
Obama Wins in Clinton's Backyard -- Connecticut
Obama won in Connecticut - less than 10 miles from Clinton's New York home. Nearly 25% of Connecticut voters live in the New York media market.
Obama Showed Strong Across the board Strength in Georgia
In Georgia, Obama won nearly 40% of the white vote and 64% of the vote among women - an impressive display of across the board support in a Southern, so-called 'red state'.
Strong Showing among Hispanics
Despite all the talk about Clinton's strong support among Hispanics, Obama won a clear majority of Hispanics in Illinois and got nearly 44% of the Hispanics in Arizona, according to exit polls.
Obama Won Lion's Share of Delaware Delegates
15 delegates were up for grabs in Delaware. Because of huge margins in Wilmington, the site of Obama's 20,000-person rally on Sunday, Obama will take 9 delegates and Clinton only 6.
Obama Sweeps Caucus States
Obama is position to sweep the caucus states. According to early projections, Obama is likely to take delegates by about a 2-to-1 margin in Minnesota (72 total delegates), Kansas (32 total delegates), North Dakota (13 total delegates).
Similar margins in Obama's favor are also likely in other caucus states: Colorado, Idaho and Alaska.
Obama, So Far, Has Won More Red States Than Clinton (5-3)
AL, GA, UT, KS, ND, (5)
AR, TN, OK (3)
As the results continue to pour in, here is some mid-evening spin from the Obama press office:
ALABAMA
Less Than Two Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led Alabama By 15 Points. According to polling done by Rasmussen released on January 25, Clinton led Obama by 15 points, 43% to 28%. [Rasmussen, 1/25/08]
ARIZONA
Less Than Two Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led Arizona Obama By 21 Points. According to a poll done for the Arizona Republic that was released on January 23, Clinton led Obama 45% to 24%. [Arizona Republic, 1/23/08]
CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant: Two Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led Connecticut By 14 Points. According to polling done for the Hartford Courant released on January 20, Clinton led Obama by 14 points, 41% to 27%. [Hartford Courant, 1/20/08]
DELAWARE
October 2007 Poll Found Clinton Leading Obama By 24 Points. According to polling done by Farleigh Dickinson that was released on October 10, Clinton led Obama by 24 points, 41% to 17%. [Fairleigh Dickinson, 10/10/07]
GEORGIA
In December 2007, Clinton Led Georgia By 7 Points. According to polling done by Strategic Vision released on December 12, Clinton led Obama by 7 points, 34% to 27%. [Strategic Vision, 1/22/07]
MASSACHUSETTS
Survey USA: Two Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led Massachusetts By 37 Points. According to polling done by Survey USA released on January 24, Clinton led Obama by 37 points, 59% to 22%. [Survey USA, 1/24/08]
MINNESOTA
October Poll Found Clinton Leading Obama By 25 Points In Minnesota. According to polling done by Mason Dixon released on October 2, Clinton led Obama 47%-33%. [Star Tribune, 10/2/07]
MISSOURI
Less Than Two Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led Missouri By 19 Points. According to polling done by Rasmussen released on January 25, Clinton led Obama by 19 points, 43% to 24%. [Rasmussen, 1/25/08]
NEW YORK
Before February 5th, Clinton Led New York By 28 Points. According to polling done by USA Today and Gallup released on January 28, Clinton led Obama by 28 points, 56% to 28%. [Gallup, 1/28/08]
NEW JERSEY
Less Than Two Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led New Jersey By 17 Points. According to polling done by Quinnipiac released on January 22, Clinton led Obama by 17 points, 49% to 32%. [Quinnipiac, 1/23/08]
OKLAHOMA
Three Weeks Before February 5th, Clinton Led Oklahoma By 20 Points. According to polling done by Survey USA released on January 14, Clinton led Obama by 20 points, 45% to 25%. [Survey USA, 1/14/08]
TENNESSEE
Less Than One Week Before February 5th, Clinton Led Tennessee By 33 Points. According to polling done by Insider Advantage in Tennessee on January 30th, Clinton led Obama by 33 points, 59% to 26%. [Insider Advantage, 1/30/08]
Here's how the Obama camp is spinning tonight's results. MSNBC's David Shuster at Obama HQ:
"They see victory. They believe that in the delegate count, at the end of the night, they're going to be very close to Hillary Clinton. They keep talking about wanting to turn this into a war of attrition. Again, they are out-fundraising Hillary Clinton 3 dollars for every 1 for Hillary Clinton."
Here's how the Clinton camp is spinning New Jersey:
Another Closely Contested Contest Goes Clinton
Hillary Clinton won New Jersey.
This weekend, Hillary Clinton's campaign had an intensive GOTV blitz that included over 100,000 calls to voters.
Exit polls showed that the Latino population in particular delivered overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton.
Some more Obama spin from the Politico's Carrie Budoff Brown, via Ben Smith:
-- They are winning states by a dominant amount and losing by smaller margins.
-- Wait for the caucus states -- their organization is better there.
-- She should be winning her home state by more. The margin is comparable to her margin in Michigan.
The Clinton camp calls her win in Massachusetts the "upset of the night":
UPSET OF THE NIGHT
One of the biggest surprises of the night is Massachusetts
Despite the fact that Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry were actively supporting and campaigning for Obama, Hillary Clinton won the state.
Despite the fact that the Governor of Massachusetts endorsed Obama, Hillary Clinton won the state.
Despite the fact that Obama visited Massachusetts just last night, Hillary Clinton won the state.
This is a strong victory and shows that Hillary Clinton has strength in places where Barack Obama was expected to win.
The New York Times Caucus Blog wrote this about Clinton's win in The Bay State:
9:27 p.m. | Money, Money, Money Here's a hint about Mrs. Clinton's strong showing in Mass. She way outspent Mr. Obama on television. Per the Campaign Media Analysis Group: She ran 309 spots, costing $65,000, compared with 120 spots by Mr. Obama, who spent $27,000. That spending in Massachusetts is from Jan. 2007 through Feb. 3, 2008.
Here is the Clinton camp's Arkansas spin:
We're very excited that Hillary Clinton has added a third red state in her victory column.
Clinton now has scored strong victories in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Arkansas.
The Obama campaign has been spinning that they have a monopoly on red states; tonight we showed they don't.
With these important victories, Hillary Clinton has demonstrated that she can compete and win in red states.
The Clinton campaign is spinning victories in Oklahoma and Tennessee:
We're very excited by our strong victories in Oklahoma and Tennessee.These are the first two states where both candidates competed fiercely.
For months, the Obama campaign has been spinning that they have a monopoly on red states; tonight we showed that they don't.
With these first two victories, Hillary Clinton has demonstrated that she can compete and win in red states.
The AP is reporting that Barack Obama won the Georgia Primary:
Barack Obama won the Georgia primary Tuesday night, the leading edge of a coast-to-coast struggle with Hillary Rodham Clinton for delegates in the grueling Democratic presidential campaign. Arizona Sen. John McCain challenged his remaining rivals for control of the Republican race.
It was Obama's second straight Southern triumph, and like an earlier victory in South Carolina, was built on a wave of black votes.
Here is how the Obama camp was spinning the Georgia win, in an email to reporters from the press office:
Georgia: Obama's victory in Georgia was achieved through a broad coalition of voters. He not only increased his support among African American voters since South Carolina (78% in South Carolina to 86% in Georgia), but he dramatically improved his standing among white voters (from 24% in South Carolina to 43% in Georgia.)
Here's how the Clinton camp was spinning Georgia, in an email from the press office:
Unlike the Obama campaign, the Clinton campaign never dedicated significant resources to Georgia.Sen. Obama spent over $500,000 dollars on ads on television and radio; we never went up on TV
The Obama campaign has 9 offices in Georgia. The Clinton campaign only has 2.
Sen. Obama has had staff and significant campaign operation across the state for 8 months. Sen. Clinton only deployed staff to the state in the last couple of weeks.
Polls have consistently showed Sen. Obama with wide lead over Sen Clinton. That lead has only widened over time.
Here are the Clinton Campaign's talking points, emailed from the press office, shortly after the Georgia election was called for Obama:
We're excited by what we're seeing.
We have 21 states that are still outstanding where we expect to pick up a significant number of new delegates.
To be sure, both campaigns have a long night ahead of them - but we feel very good about the numbers that we're seeing.
It's very important that people in the states where the polls are still open get out and vote.
The Washington Post has this on the Obama campaign's reaction to Hillary Clinton's announcement that she wants to participate in some more debates:
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe gave the brushoff to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's challenge to four new debates.
"We've done 18 debates," Plouffe told reporters, as supporters and campaign staff waited for Super Tuesday results to trickle in. "We're obviously going to set our schedule to include debates, and there will be more debates, but our schedule is not going to be dictated by the Clinton campaign. We just haven't thought about it yet." Then he couldn't resist this kicker: "It is kind of a tactic out of the second-tier congressional campaign playbook, so we're a little surprised they spent so much time talking about it today."
The Washington Post is reporting on voter confusion in Arizona:
Confusion erupted at some Arizona polling places today when some voters arrived to cast ballots -- only to be told their vote wouldn't count, or to be turned away.
The glitch arose because Arizona's independent voters mistakenly believed that because they are allowed to vote for Democrats or Republicans in other elections, they could also do so in presidential primaries like the one today, according to state officials. But by state law, today's primaries are open only to registered party members
Early exit poll highlights from the AP:
Highlights from preliminary results of exit polling in the Super Tuesday primary states for The Associated Press and television networks:
DECISIONS, DECISIONS
About one in 10 voters in each party said they decided whom to vote for on Tuesday. Slightly more said they decided in the last three days. About half of Democratic primary voters and a third of Republicans said they made up their minds more than a month ago.
ECONOMIC WORRIES
Voters in both parties most frequently picked the economy as the most important issue facing the country. Given three choices, half of Democratic primary voters picked the economy, three in 10 said the war in Iraq and two in 10 said health care. Republican primary voters had four choices for that question and four in 10 picked the economy; two in 10 picked immigration and the war in Iraq and somewhat fewer said terrorism.
The Tribune Washington Bureau is reporting that voters might not have a clear picture of Super Tuesday results when the go to sleep tonight:
Today is the day we've been long waiting for (and we in the media hyping) Super Duper Tuesday. It's a historic day. Never have so many presidential nominating contests converged on a single day.
Twenty-four states are having some form of vote today to choose delegates to the national party conventions who will go on to formally select each party's presidential nominees.
The conventional wisdom is that by the end of the day the race on the Republican side should be settled. That's because under Republican rules, in most states the candidate who gets the majority of votes receives all the delegates in winner-take-all primaries.
Right now, Sen. John McCain appears to have the Big Mo, as in momentum, according to the polls. Real Clear Politics has averaged all the national polls and has McCain leading Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, by 18.3 percent.
The Memphis Business Journal reports that commuters in several major cities will be able to monitor real-time election results on electronic billboards:
Clear Channel Outdoor is joining with NBC News and MSNBC.com to provide digital reporting of primary election results on Super Tuesday using its network of light-emitting diode (LED) billboards.
Digital displays owned by Clear Channel in Memphis, Albuquerque, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles will display real-time content throughout Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.
Mike Huckabee won the West Virginia primary, Politico.com reports:
In the first Super Tuesday result, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won an upset victory at the West Virginia Republican presidential convention, scoring all 18 of the state's delegates.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who had worked hard to organize in the Mountaineer State, came in second.
His campaign cried foul, saying the McCain campaign sent its delegates to Huckabee in order to undermine Romney.
Huckabee and Romney both made appearances at the convention.
An afternoon update from Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza:
* The campaigns of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) spent the day furiously lowering expectations. Howard Wolfson, communications director for Clinton, said Super Tuesday would produce a "close and inconclusive" result. He added: "We are confident we are going to win a diverse mix of states today."
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton accused Clinton of attempting to drive down expectations for today even while doing so himself. "We fully expect Senator Clinton to earn more delegates on February 5th and also to win more states," said Burton. "If we were to be within 100 delegates on that day and win a number of states, we will have met our threshold for success and will be best positioned to win the nomination in the coming months."
* Clinton's campaign announced this morning that it had agreed to three debates this month -- a Feb. 10 get-together on "This Week with George Stephanapoulos," an Ohio debate on Feb. 27, and one in Houston the following day.
Of the decision to sign on for three more debates before Super Tuesday had even concluded, Clinton pollster Mark Penn said: "The campaign believes it's critically important that we continue the debates between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton."
Pushing for more debates -- in traditional political terms -- is the strategy of the underdog. Clinton's campaign clearly believes their candidate can defeat Obama in these one-on-one affairs even though the first such event -- last week in California -- largely ended in a draw with both candidates content to make their points and avoid conflict.
Poll closing times from Time Magazine's Mark Halperin:
Last polls in state close at 7:00 pm ET:
Georgia primariesLast polls in state close at 8 pm ET:
Alabama primaries
Connecticut primaries
Delaware primaries
Illinois primaries
Massachusetts primaries
Missouri primaries
New Jersey primaries
Oklahoma primaries
Tennessee primaries
Last polls in state close at 8:30 pm ET:
Arkansas primariesLast polls in state close at 9:00 pm ET:
Kansas caucuses (Dems only)
Arizona primaries
Colorado caucuses
Minnesota primaries
New Mexico primary (Dems only)
New York primaries
Last polls in state close at 10:00 pm ET:
Idaho caucuses (Dems only)
Montana caucuses (GOP only)
North Dakota caucuses
Utah primariesLast polls in state close at 11:00 pm ET:
California primariesLast of the polls close at 1:30 am ET:
Alaska primaries
The Christian Science Monitor reports on how early voting might swing the Super Tuesday results:
Key Super Tuesday states allowing some form of no-excuse early voting include California, Illinois, Arizona, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Utah. (In states with caucuses, early voting won't be a factor even if allowed.)
In California, some 2.3 million voters have already voted by mail, says Stephen Weir, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. Based on the turnout he anticipates, he predicts that just under half of all ballots will be cast early and believes that a quarter of the vote is already in. Mr. Weir says several candidates bought lists of those permanent absentee voters, and have been working to lock in early votes.
In general, people who vote early tend to be more decided, slightly older, and more partisan, says Robert Stein, a political science professor at Rice University. Because of that, he notes, some candidates will change their message in the weeks leading up to the actual primary.