Republican Sen. John McCain won a big victory in the Republican delegate race over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Super Tuesday, extending his lead by capturing nearly all the delegates in California. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton held onto a relatively small lead over Sen. Barack Obama. However, there were still outstanding delegates to be awarded in Illinois and Georgia, where Obama fared well.McCain won 601 delegates to 176 for Romney and 147 for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in incomplete results. A total of 1,023 delegates were up for grabs in 21 states. Overall, McCain led with 703 delegates, to 269 for Romney and 190 for Huckabee. It takes 1,191 to win the nomination at this summer's convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Clinton led with 739 Super Tuesday delegates to Obama's 700. A total of 1,681 delegates were at stake in 22 states and American Samoa. Overall, that gave Clinton 1,000 delegates, to 902 for Obama with 2,025 delegates required to claim the nomination in Denver at this summer's convention.