Candidates eye weekend voting activity

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The candidates for U.S. president Wednesday culled the results of Super Tuesday and moved on to the next round of primaries.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona attained front-runner status among Republican U.S. presidential hopefuls but the Democratic nominee remained in doubt as Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., each took major victories in the scramble for nominating delegates. Clinton won New York and California while Obama claimed a razor-thin victory the bellwether state Missouri, in which every presidential candidate for the past century has won at least once.

On Saturday, Kansas Republicans have their caucus, while Washington state Democrats and Republicans caucus and Louisiana conducts a primary. Nebraska Democrats will caucus for the first time and the Virgin Islands Democrats will also select delegates. Maine Democrats are to caucus Sunday. Primaries in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia are Tuesday.

A USA Today count showed Clinton with 845 of the 2,025 delegates necessary for the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama has 765 delegates. Among Republicans, McCain was the leader with 613 of the 1,191 delegates needed for the Republican presidential nod. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 269 delegates and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has 190.

Romney said he would spend Wednesday reviewing the results with his family and advisers.

Huckabee said his showing revved up his campaign. In remarks to people who dismissed his campaign, Huckabee drew comparisons to the biblical battle between David and Goliath.

"This just shows that, sometimes, one small, smooth stone is even more effective than a whole lot of armor," he said.

Obama and Clinton said Democratic voters looked to the future when casting ballots.

"Our voters are passionate for bringing about change," Obama said Wednesday, noting Democrats reportedly cast 10 million ballots to 6 million GOP ballots cast.