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Huckabee Wins W Virginia!!!!!!
CNN) -- Republican Mike Huckabee scored the first Super Tuesday victory, winning all 18 delegates at stake in West Virginia.
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Mike Huckabee came from behind to win in the second round of voting at the West Virginia GOP convention.
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The former Arkansas governor won with the support of 52 percent of the state's GOP convention delegates on the second round of balloting. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second with 47 percent of the vote, and Sen. John McCain was backed by 1 percent of the delegates.
Romney was ahead in the first round of voting in Charleston but failed to get the majority needed to win.
It appeared as though supporters of Arizona Sen. John McCain, who placed a distant third on the first ballot, moved over to Huckabee, helping him to carry the day.
With 24 states and American Samoa holding primaries or caucuses, Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day and a pivotal day in the Democratic and Republican races for the White House. View what is at stake »
Some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs.
There will be complete results coverage all day and through the night on CNN TV and CNN.com.
With no sitting president or vice president running for the first time in decades and wide-open races in both parties, a record number of voters has headed to the polls this primary season.
On Tuesday, I-Reporter Christopher Penn, 32, told CNN he voted right after the polls opened in Framingham, Massachusetts. Penn said it was the first time he had ever voted in a primary.
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"It looks like it's going to be a good primary day. The only thing that's going to be tricky is the weather, which is not great, to be charitable. I would expect that would diminish turnout," Penn, an independent, said. "But there was quite a good line to get in there, so it looks like another good day for our republic."
I-Reporter Dian Campbell, 55, told CNN she was determined to caucus for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, but first she has to find a way out of her snowed-in home outside Antonito, Colorado. Video Watch how CNN analysts view the GOP race »
"We've been on the phone to see if we can put together a snowmobile patrol to pick people up because the roads in most of the county are impassable," she said.
"We thought we might have to ride horses to get places, because right now, we can't get anywhere."
More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake. Video Watch Time journalists break down the Democratic race »
Tuesday's results are more likely to decide the presumptive presidential nominee in the Republican contest than in the Democratic contest because of the way the GOP allocates delegates.
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Victors in the Republican primaries and caucuses usually enjoy a winner-take-all delegate system, while Democrats parcel out delegates on a proportional basis.
On the Democratic side, the surviving contenders -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- are likely to split the delegates rather evenly, Democratic analyst Peter Fenn said.
"I think that Obama clearly has an advantage in those seven states that are doing caucuses," Fenn said. "I think she's got to carry the big states that she had planned on. California is clearly up for grabs now. ... Unless one or the other gets annihilated, I think they go on to many more Tuesdays." Video Watch analysts call Obama a rising force »
Democratic presidential candidate Clinton cast her ballot in her home state of New York Tuesday morning. She was joined by her husband, former President Clinton, and her daughter, Chelsea. Video Watch Clinton outline her universal health care plan »
Obama started his Super Tuesday on the opposite coast. During an interview with CNN from San Francisco, California, the Illinois Democrat promoted his health care plan, a key issue for California voters. He will end his day in his hometown, Chicago. Video Watch Obama tout his health care proposal »
GOP presidential hopefuls Romney, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will be scrambling for votes throughout the day.
Front-runners McCain and Romney, have engaged in some bitter exchanges over each others conservative records.
McCain started his day at a rally in New York. "I guarantee you, as the nominee of my party, I can and will carry the city of New York as well as the state of New York, because we know how to appeal to independents," he told supporters in Manhattan. Video Watch McCain in the streets of New York »
Romney and Huckabee both addressed the West Virginia Republican convention Tuesday before state delegates began voting Tuesday. Video Watch Huckabee address the convention »
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Before the voting began, Romney told delegates that wins in California and other Super Tuesday states would put him in position to win his party's nomination.
"It will indicate the conservative voices in our party are standing up and saying, 'wait a second, we want to make sure that this party does not leave the house that [former President] Ronald Reagan built," Romney said in Charleston, West Virginia.
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