After routing Romney in northeast, McCain declares himself 'front-runner'

Michael Roston Published: Tuesday February 5, 2008 |
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After being declared the winner in most northeastern states, and California, John McCain officially declared himself the Republican Party's front-runner. But in spite of some electoral setbacks, Mitt Romney promised to carry on until the summer's Republican National Convention.

While former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won his home-state of Massachusetts, the major news networks called both Connecticut and New Jersey for the Arizona senator. The states apportion delegates on a winner-take-all basis, giving McCain a major boost in the march to the Republican National Convention. Later in the evening, McCain was declared the winner in Delaware and New York.

Just after midnight ET, McCain was declared the winner in California by Fox News and MSNBC.

In a victory speech before midnight, McCain described himself as the Republican party's front-runner.

"And I don't really mind it a bit," he added, thanking those who had stuck by him, "through thick and thin."

He also took note of Mike Huckabee's success on Super Tuesday.

"Not for the first time, he's surprised us all," he said, going on to praise his skills as a campaigner.

The Arizona senator also appeared to offer Romney a friendly 'kiss of death.'

"He and I have been going at it pretty hard over the past few weeks," McCain noted before saying that Romney had his "respect" for being able to accept the "ups and downs of a long contest."

McCain also won in Illinois and Oklahoma. Just before midnight, he was declared winner in Missouri over Mike Huckabee after advancing to a lead of around 20,000 votes.

Romney was declared the winner in Utah by a domineering super-majority, and also won contests in North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, and Colorado. He pledged to his supporters that he'd go all the way to the convention.

"[Romney's Wife] Anne came to me and she said, 'The one thing that's clear tonight is nothing is clear,' but I think she's wrong," he declared. "The one thing that's clear is that this campaign is going on."

While the news for McCain was mostly good this evening, his victory in Arizona offered some pause. McCain's victory in the state was never in doubt, but early vote counts seemed to hint that his margin of victory was not as substantial as might have been expected for his home-state. It appears that conservatives in the state voted against McCain because of his stance on immigration.

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