U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton was projected winner of the Democratic Party's presidential primary in California Tuesday, while John McCain was the state's pick in the Republican race, early primary election results showed.
The former first lady and New York senator was leading her rival Barack Obama about 55 percent to 33 percent after 15 percent of the precincts reported their results, according to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen.
Meanwhile, Arizona Senator McCain led former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 44 percent to 25 percent in the Republican race, with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee grabbing 12 percent of the vote.
Millions of California voters cast their ballots Tuesday in the country'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 decide the Democratic and Republican nominees.
Tuesday's closely watched contest in California capped months of lively campaigning by presidential candidates across the state, drawing the nation's attention to the state's deep well of delegates.
With 370 Democratic delegates and 170 Republican delegates to be divided among the candidates, California voters were expected to make a difference in fierce battle for the party nominations.
State election officials predicted exceptional voter turnout throughout the state, driven by the furious last-minute round of campaigning and especially the absence of clear favorite in the Democratic race between Clinton and Obama.
"All indications are we are going to have a record turnout for the California presidential primary, but we won't know that for sure until we've counted the last ballot," said Secretary of State Bowen.
The final results of the California primaries are expected to roll in far later than usual, partly because many counties are using paper ballots, which must be fed manually into scanners.
Source: Xinhua
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