With no losers, the fight goes on
NEWS ANALYSIS
Primaries underline divisions instead of clarifying the races.
WASHINGTON — Not long ago, political strategists viewed Super Tuesday as a day that would likely crown the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, a 24-state extravaganza that would bring the long primary campaign to an orderly conclusion.
They were wrong. Instead of producing nominees, Tuesday's voting revealed the fault lines for a continuing fight within each party.
The crazy quilt of primary and caucus results gave Republicans a clear front-runner in Sen. John McCain, but no sign that his rivals, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, would drop out soon and no sign of peace among the party's divided factions.
Democrats who once thought their race would wrap up early instead face a potentially long duel between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, with votes divided not by ideology but, in many states, by race and ethnic group.
Clinton and Obama divided the nation almost down the middle, with Clinton winning at least eight states, including giants California and New York. Obama won at least 12 states, including Illinois and Georgia. The close result guaranteed days of uncertainty over the delegate count, followed by weeks more of renewed campaigning.
With the two candidates separated by only modest policy differences, Tuesday's results illuminated divisions of what scholars call "identity politics." Latinos turned out in large numbers and mostly supported Clinton; African American voters turned out too and voted overwhelmingly for Obama; and white voters divided, giving pluralities to Clinton in some states, to Obama in others.
McCain advanced significantly toward his party's nomination, winning nine states, including delegate-rich California, New York and Illinois. But exit polls showed that he had still not won the hearts of the party's most loyal conservatives, who divided most of their votes between Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas. That left the GOP closer to making McCain its nominee but no closer to joining ranks behind him.
The overall outcome: These primary races are not over in either party. The battle between Clinton and Obama will continue, probably through the March 4 primaries in Ohio and Texas and possibly beyond. McCain appears almost certain to win his party's nomination, but only after battling Romney and Huckabee for delegates in more states.
