Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Associated Press [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Philip Crowson Freshman general studies major Calvin Nguyen registers to win an iPod Tuesday in the Memorial Student Center Flagroom. The registration and primary election coverage is sponsored by Fox News and includes live broadcast from the Flagroom. [Click to enlarge]

As Sen. John McCain captured the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton managed victories in the key states of Texas and Ohio on Tuesday, allowing her to remain in the battle against Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

Though the margins were narrow and the race was called late Tuesday night, Clinton, D-N.Y., edged out Obama in Texas for the highly sought state with its considerable number of delegates. Clinton also had clear wins in Ohio and Rhode Island.

Obama, D-Ill., won Vermont, which was the 12th straight win before losing the following primaries Tuesday.

Driven by her victories, Clinton figured that it was an indication that she remained a vital part of the Democratic race, she said in Columbus, Ohio, after the Ohio results were released.

"For everyone who has stumbled but stood right back up, and for everyone who works hard and never gives up, this one is for you," Clinton said, reckoning that the results signaled a comeback after slipping behind Obama in terms of delegates, fundraising and placement in the polls. She added: "We're going on, we're going strong and we're going all the way."

But for McCain, R-Ariz., Tuesday finalized the ultimate comeback. The 71-year-old clinched the nomination after being a dark horse on the brink of leaving the race this summer. After falling behind former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the polls and with his campaign coffers drying, many political observers predicted McCain would fail to survive through August.

With the start of the primary season, he saw an early win in New Hampshire and claimed decisive victories on Super Tuesday on Feb. 5, thrusting him to a frontrunner position.

McCain won handily in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont on Tuesday, causing his last major opponent in the Republican field, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., to withdraw from the campaign Tuesday night, after losing Texas.

"We kept the faith," Huckabee told supporters gathered in Irving, Texas. "I'd rather lose an election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place."

He entered the race as a middle-tier candidate, low on resources or much political clout, but made himself into the pop-culture candidate. Huckabee began appearing regularly on television comedy programs like Comedy Central's "Colbert Report," where, on one occasion, he discussed the importance of the Texas primary while using a cutout of the state as a puck in an air hockey game with host Stephen Colbert. He was also a guest on "Saturday Night Live" in the program's first episode after the conclusion of the Writers' Guild strike.

"We started this effort with very little recognition and virtually no resources," he said. "We ended with slightly more recognition and very few resources."

He added: "What a journey. A journey of a lifetime."

Huckabee said at a campaign rally on Friday in College Station that, then, the race was not yet over; no candidate had the 1,191 delegates necessary for the nomination. Secondly, he said, Texas was a major state that could propel Huckabee to some sort of prominence if he won. "It's not over until Texas says it's over," he said at the rally.

McCain reached the 1,191 delegates and, according to the results of the primary, the majority of Texas Republicans did not want a Huckabee presidency.

Thus, Huckabee dropped from the race and McCain continues to the Republican National Convention beginning Sept. 4 in Saint Paul, Minn. In addition, McCain left from Dallas, Texas, where he watched the results, for Washington, D.C., where he will receive an endorsement from President Bush, a fellow Republican who ran against McCain in the primary stage in 2000.

Political observers have said Tuesday held special significance in regard to young voters and their involvement in the process. Analysts expect that the participation by younger voters - college students in particular - was at historic levels in Texas, just as it has been in previous primaries in 2008.

Early voting in Texas was especially affected, said Ryan Cost, a senior producer for ThePalestra.com, a website that covers youth participation in politics. He said voting the week before the primary in Texas reached record levels of young participants.

Cost said that an increased interest in issues, such as healthcare, the environment and the economy, drove young people to become more invested in the campaign - and, in turn, the candidate who they support. He added that Obama was the candidate with the most supporters falling into that category. "A big part has been Barack Obama, who has embraced the youth vote," Cost said.

Laura Neal, also of ThePalestra.com, which is non-partisan, said young people are involved because they feel as though they can make a difference.

"Students know their vote counts and they really can make their voice heard," Neal said.

Tommy Lanier, a senior political science major, was one of the students who took part in the process - and has since he was 18-years-old. He said he voted for McCain through an absentee ballot from Cass County, Texas, last week.

Arturo Torres, a senior international studies major, said he used his right to vote as a way to air his frustration with the direction the political process has gone thus far. He said he voted for Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, despite knowing the candidate had no viable shot at the presidency.

"He understands the issues we face," Torres said. "His views are closest to what the founding fathers saw for our country."

The charisma of Sen. Obama is what first attracted Valerie Davis, a senior history major, to his campaign, but it was his stance on the issues most important to her - healthcare and higher education - that made her vote for him, she said.

Carter Paret, a freshman anthropology major, ceded his opportunity to vote in his first presidential primary because he was disenchanted by the people running, he said. Both of the candidates he originally supported, Giuliani and Romney, left the race.

And on Iraq, which was a primary issue for him, the Democrats and Republicans veer too far to either side, Paret said. He disagrees with Clinton's plans for Iraq, saying her plans seems like she's abandoning the war completely. Yet, he is also at odds with McCain's plans to increase the war effort and stay for an extended period of time, he said.

Though he plans to vote in November, Paret said, "It would depend on the running mate."

For Kelsey Welch, a freshman general studies major, her lack of participation was simply not registering properly. "My dad was really mad I didn't vote today," Welch said, adding that she will cast her ballot in the general election.

Upcoming primaries remain Wyoming and Mississippi in March. Pennsylvania, another state with a large delegate count and with Clinton leading in the polls, will have its primary on Apr. 22. Guam, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Carolina and Puerto Rico will have their Democratic primaries in consecutive order before the nomination convention beginning Aug. 25, in Denver, Colo.

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