As the first U.S. presidential candidate who was announced the winner on the Super Tuesday, Republican Mike Huckabee led the West Virginia caucuses.
Huckabee beat former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney by 52 percent to 47 percent, followed by Arizona Senator John McCain at 1 percent.
According to the state's "winner-take-all" rule, Huckabee gained all of the 18 delegates rewarded to the Republican presidential nominee convention to be held early September.
The 52-year-old former Arkansas governor has surprisingly won the first race in Iowa but lost his momentum as the race continues. As a long-term Baptist minister, he has mobilized a large number of conservative voters with his religious beliefs and support for ban on gay marriage and abortion.
However, McCain shows a double-digit lead in the national polls over Romney, and Huckabee is left far behind at the third place.
A total 24 states and American Samoa are holding their primaries and caucuses, virtually making the Super Tuesday a national primary day and a key day in the Democratic and Republican races for the White House.
States such as California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York are expected to play a decisive role in the full-scale race due to their population and the number of delegates to nomination conventions they will award to candidates.
The Super Tuesday would delivering 1,023 Republican and 1,681 Democratic delegates. The number needed to win the nomination is 1,191 for Republican and 2,025 for Democratic.
The Super Tuesday's results are more likely to decide on the Republican presidential nominee rather than the Democratic contest due to the "winner-take-all" allocation of delegates most states apply.
Despite thunderstorms and snowstorms across the eastern half of the nation where many Super Tuesday states are located, a high voter turnout is expected.
Citing local election officials in New York, CNN report said that the turnout is expected to be 25 percent to 35 percent higher than the normal level.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen also told the TV that700,000 more Californians were on voter rolls than during the 2004presidential elections.
Source: Xinhua
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