McCain declares himself the frontrunner

John McCain spoke with the night still up in the air for him. If he wins in Missouri and California then he has had a pretty good night. If he doesn’t, then he has underperformed. Obviously, eager to shape tomorrow’s press coverage McCain announced that he was the frontrunner, a label he had previously been wary of.

McCain also paid tribute to his rivals. Although, it was noticeable how much more effusive and sincere he was in his praise of Huckabee.

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Hillary upbeat

Hillary was the first speech to mention her opponent by name, a sign of her confidence. She hit her usual notes about how she will be a voice for those people who are not heard. She also played up the historical nature of her candidacy, stressing that her mother was born when women couldn’t vote. 

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Romney: Tonight cleared nothing up

So far, Mitt Romney is having a disappointing night and needs a win in California if this night is not to be a disaster for him. In his speech, he emphasised that no one had won a decisive victory tonight.

Romney hit his usual economic buttons but added in some predictions about how America would become a ‘second tier power’ by the end of the century unless Washington changed its ways. However, Huckabee is blocking Romney’s attempt to get into an outsider versus Washington contest.

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Huckabee: "It's a two man race and we're in it."

Mike Huckabee’s election night speech tweaked Mitt Romney’s tail. Huckabee declared “it’s a two man race and we’re in it” turning Romney’s formulation back on him.

The speech hit Huckabee’s usual populist themes about closing down the IRS and how family knows best. Huckabee was, as he is always is, a fluent and impressive speaker.

Interestingly, Huckabee was happy to present himself as a Southern candidate. One has to wonder if his strategy is not to lock up the Southern and evangelical vote and hope to push McCain into picking him as part of a unity ticket.

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McCain wins New York

McCain has now definitely taken 4 of the 8 winner takes all state. McCain is not so far having a great night but he is doing well enough.

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New Jersey goes for Hillary

Contrary to the early buzz, things are turning out OK for Hillary. She has now added New Jersey to her column. With every victory out east, Hillary puts more pressure on Obama to win California.

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Hillary wins Mass

This suggests that Obama isn't going to blow her away tonight--it is also an embarrassment to the Bay state political establishment who were all behind Obama.

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A big win for Clinton

In what is shaping up to be a tough night for her, Hillary has just pulled off a strong win in the border state of Tennessee.

Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee is turning in a strong performance winning Alabama.

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8pm closes

More polls have closed and the networks have called Illinois, New Jersey and Connecticut for McCain none of which is a surprise. Romney has won Massachusetts, which really does suggest that McCain made a huge tactical mistake by spending so much time there this week.

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Obama wins Georgia

The networks call Georgia for Obama immediately with Obama pulling in an impressive 43% of the white vote, an enouraging sign for the Obama camp when combined with good early exits.

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