WASHINGTON — John McCain rolled to victory in big-state primaries across the nation Tuesday, but rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney notched enough wins to keep the race for the Republican nomination alive.
McCain won primaries in California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Delaware, Illinois, Oklahoma and Arizona, his home state.
Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who has appealed above all to white evangelicals, beat expectations across a large stretch of the Bible Belt. He won Alabama, West Virginia and delegate-rich Georgia and Tennessee -- big trophies for a man who long ranked as an afterthought in the race for the White House.
However, the 21 Republican contests on Super Tuesday proved a disappointment for Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts. He took his home state, but his other victories in early returns were in the relatively small states of Utah -- where he was buoyed by fellow Mormons -- Minnesota, Montana, Colorado and North Dakota.
McCain was counting on winning enough delegates Tuesday to establish himself firmly as the presumptive nominee. In Phoenix, he took to the stage at the Arizona Biltmore with the "Rocky" anthem playing and told cheering supporters he was glad to give up the role of underdog.
"I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner," he told the crowd.
"Mac is back!" his supporters hollered.
At his election-night party in Boston, Romney told supporters that he would stay in the race no matter the final delegate tally after Super Tuesday.
"I think there's some people who thought it was all going to be done tonight," he told the crowd before promising: "We're going to go all the way to the convention and we're going to win this thing, and we're going to go to the White House."
Huckabee, like Romney, vowed to keep on fighting for the nomination.
"Tonight we're proving that we're still on our feet," Huckabee told a boisterous crowd in Little Rock, Ark. "And much to the amazement of many, we're getting there, folks."
With 1,023 delegates to the Republican Party's summer convention at stake Tuesday, it was mathematically impossible for McCain to capture the full 1,191 needed to win the nomination. But by late Tuesday evening, McCain had pulled far ahead with 525 delegates, to 223 for Romney and 145 for Huckabee, according to the Associated Press. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas ended the night with nine delegates.
