Republican Mike Huckabee scored the first Super Tuesday victory, winning all 18 delegates at stake in West Virginia partially with the help of Sen. John McCain's backers.
The former Arkansas governor won with the support of 52 percent of the state's GOP convention delegates on the second round of balloting. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second with 47 percent of the vote, and Sen. John McCain of Arizona was backed by 1 percent of the delegates.
Romney was ahead in the first round of voting in Charleston but failed to get the majority needed to win.
It appeared supporters of McCain, who placed a distant third on the first ballot, moved over to Huckabee, helping him carry the day.
Romney's campaign was furious over the "Washington backroom deal."
"Unfortunately, this is what Sen. McCain's inside Washington ways look like: He cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Gov. Romney's campaign of conservative change," read a statement from Romney campaign manager Beth Myers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment