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TechnoratiWASHINGTON – Any hopes that the presidential race would settle down after Super Tuesday were dashed as all five major candidates won states and vowed to continue battling to be the next U.S. president.
(Photo: AP Images / Lenny Ignelzi)Republicans supporters watch the primary results on television at the California State Republican Party election day celebration Tuesday Feb. 5, 2008 in San Diego.
On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) solidified his frontrunner status after Tuesday’s contests, winning the most states including the delegate rich states of California, Illinois and New York.
McCain has gathered 514 delegates so far in his presidential campaign, including Tuesday night’s projections, according to the latest CNN update. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 177 delegates, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has 122.
Republican candidates need 1,191 delegates for the party’s nomination.
“Tonight I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner for the nomination of president of the United States,” said McCain to reporters as results came in Tuesday. “And I don’t really mind it one bit.”
The Arizona senator had previously been hesitant to acknowledge his frontrunner status and used the phrases “guardedly optimistic” and “very superstitious” when asked to predict how he’d fare after Super Tuesday.
But influential values voter leader Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family does mind – and quite a bit – that McCain seems to be moving closer to being crowned as the Republican nominee.
“I am deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings, opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, has little regard for freedom of speech, organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters in judicial hearings, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language,” vented Dobson in a statement on the conservative political radio program The Laura Ingraham Show Tuesday.
Dobson, whose own radio program reaches 3.4 million Christian listeners each week, said he is “convinced” that McCain is not a conservative and pointed out his cozy relationship with Democratic contender Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and 2004 Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
“I cannot, and will not, vote for Sen. John McCain, as a matter of conscience,” Dobson declared.
The pro-family figure said if the Arizona senator becomes the nominee, he will not vote in the general election – the first time, he says, he would not be voting for a president. He dismissed the Democratic candidates as having “virulently anti-family” policy positions.
But two Republican candidates, both touting themselves as conservative and pro-family, remain in the race.
Former Arkansas governor Huckabee, also a former Baptist preacher and said to be a long-time friend of Dobson, won many conservative southern states Tuesday in defiance of pressure earlier to drop out of the race after he suffered a string of losses. Going into Tuesday, the Republican race was largely portrayed as a battle between McCain and Romney.
“Over the past few days, a lot of people have been trying to say that this is a two-man race. Well, you know what? It is, and we’re in it,” Hucakbee said as the results came in.
The former Arkansas governor won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and West Virginia. Continue »
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