CNN=Politics Daily
(CNN) - The Republican presidential primary race has another winner. Mitt Romney won Michigan's GOP primary Tuesday night and now Romney and the rest of the GOP presidential field will continue their contest in South Carolina and Nevada.
The three leading Democrats debated one another Tuesday night in Las Vegas - less than a week before Nevada's caucuses.
In the latest episode of CNN=Politics Daily, John Roberts speaks with Mitt Romney and Mary Snow reports on the Republican presidential race.
Roberts also sits down with Mark Halperin, book author and Senior Political Analyst for Time Magazine, to discuss the next stage of the White House race. Finally, Kiran Chetry speaks with former senator Fred Thompson.
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–CNN Associate Producer Martina Stewart
Potentially troubling news for Clinton in Michigan 'win'
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/15/art.clintonmichigan.ap.jpg caption=" Clinton won less than a quarter of support from black voters."](CNN) - Hillary Clinton faced a grim statistic in Michigan Tuesday night, despite her primary "win" there: results revealed that she may have reason to worry about her grasp on the African-American vote.
The Michigan primary vote was essentially meaningless: the national party stripped the state of its delegates because it held its contest too early in the election season, and Clinton was the only major Democratic contender whose name appeared on the ballot.
Even so, roughly 70 percent of Michigan’s African-American voters - a group that makes up a quarter of Michigan’s Democratic electorate - did not cast their votes for Clinton, choosing the “uncommitted” option instead. Yet these voters weren’t uncommitted at all: in fact, according to CNN exit polls, they overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama, whose name did not appear on the ballot.
Had Obama’s name been on the Michigan ballot, CNN exit polls show that he would have won an overwhelming 73 percent of the African-American vote, in contrast to 22 percent who say they would have voted for Clinton under those circumstances. If South Carolina’s large African-American community votes as Michigan’s, Hillary may not be feeling much ‘southern hospitality’ in that state.
Related: Blacks, youngest voters choose 'uncommitted' over Clinton
- CNN Political Producer Alan Isenberg
Where to next?
Mitt Romney goes over his victory speech shortly after major media outlets called the state for him (Photo Credit: AP)
(CNN) - Three major early contests, three different winners: the Republican race is wide open. The Best Political Team takes a look at where the candidates are headed next.
Exit polling: Democrats pick McCain over Romney
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/15/art.mccaindems.ap.jpg caption=" Dems picked McCain over Romney, but few participated in the GOP primary."] WASHINGTON (CNN) - Despite urging from some activists like Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas that Michigan Democrats vote for Mitt Romney over John McCain, CNN exit polling indicates the Arizona Republican won the liberal vote.
McCain captured 41 percent of Democrats who voted in the Republican primary, 10 points more than Romney. Mike Huckabee meanwhile, only captured 14 percent of Democrats.
Though the Democratic primary race was rendered essentially meaningless after party sanctions, few Democrats decided to vote in the Republican primary - according to the exit polling, Democrats only constituted 7 percent of the vote in that contest.
Moulitsas, in an entry on his blog last Thursday entitled “Let’s have some fun in Michigan,” called on Michigan’s Democratic voters to abandon the meaningless Democratic primary and vote for Romney in the state’s binding Republican primary. By doing so, Moulitsas argued, Democrats could further muddle the Republican contest and most importantly, reduce the threat of McCain, who polls show is the biggest threat to their nominee in the head-to-head general election contest.
Though the bloggers' calls were not heeded, CNN’s Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider points out they got what they wanted.
“The bloggers got what they wanted: Romney won. The Republican race is muddled. McCain’s momentum is halted. It’s just that the bloggers weren’t the ones who did it!," he said.
- CNN's Alexander Mooney and Alan Isenberg
TICKER MORNING EDITION: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Three down and three up
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Well, that certainly cleared things up. Three major GOP contests, three winners heading into Saturday’s critical South Carolina contest. Good news for Mitt Romney – still, the biggest momentum out of Michigan may not go to the winner, but to the story of an election eve comment from third-place Mike Huckabee, still resonating as the contest moves south.
"[Some of my opponents] do not want to change the Constitution, but I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God,” Huckabee told a Warren, Michigan audience Monday night, “and that's what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards, rather than try to change God's standards."
That comment may have been music to the ears of the state’s Christian conservatives, but despite the jump in evangelical turnout, Huckabee failed to attract the same level of support he received from this voting bloc in Iowa. Evangelicals showed up – but despite a huge push by pro-Huckabee organizers, they were just as likely to support Romney as they were the former Baptist minister.
And there’s another big story out of the Republican results that has little to do with Romney: the campaign of Fred Thompson, who has largely avoided taking shots at close friend John McCain, took aim at the Michigan runner-up in an election-night press release that included attacks on Huckabee and, almost as an afterthought, Mitt Romney too.
For the Democrats, last night brought a mild face-off in Las Vegas, where the biggest drama was the last-minute legal maneuvers over Dennis Kucinich’s appearance on stage with the rest of the field.
More interesting developments came off-stage, where Barack Obama received the backing of the Las Vegas Review-Journal – not the Democratic base’s favorite read, perhaps, but the largest paper in the state.
But the biggest news for the Obama campaign last night may have come out of Michigan, where roughly 70 percent of the state’s African-American Democrats chose the “uncommitted” option over Hillary Clinton, the only major candidate to appear on the ballot – and about three-quarters said they would have cast votes for Obama if his name had appeared on the ballot.
- CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand
POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Compiled Jonathan Helman
CNN Washington Bureau
Detroit News: Romney Blasts GOP Race Wide Open
Mitt Romney's victory Tuesday in the Michigan Republican presidential primary has put the economy on the nation's political map and Romney back into a turbulent fight for the GOP nomination.
Detroit News: Clinton Coasts To Democratic Victory
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Michigan Democratic primary Tuesday, easily outpolling the "uncommitted" vote, but partisans are quarreling over whether she drew enough support to spare embarrassment.
Rothenberg Political Report: Romney Rides the Republican Wave in Michigan GOP Primary.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, whose father served as Michigan's governor and campaigned as a hometown favorite, won the Michigan Republican primary Tuesday by rolling up clear wins among self-described conservatives and Republicans.
Las Vegas Sun: Democrats Engage In Substantive, Tranquil And Focused Debate
Trying to restore amity to a contest that has seen precious little of it recently, the three leading Democratic presidential candidates used a nationally televised debate in Las Vegas Tuesday night to emphasize their belief that America would be better served by sending any of them, not a Republican, to the White House next January.
NY Times: No G.O.P. Anchor in Sight
The convincing victory by Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary on Tuesday means three very different states — with dissimilar electorates driven by distinctive sets of priorities — have embraced three separate candidates in search of someone who can lead the party into a tough election and beyond President Bush.
ON THE TRAIL: Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Compiled by Lauren Kornreich, CNN Washington Bureau
Balmy campaign trail weather for all, as the candidates head south and west: Democrats still in Nevada, most Republicans in South Carolina, and Rudy Giuliani – no surprise – still in Florida.
* Hillary Clinton attends an event about Yucca Mountain in Las Vegas and hosts a roundtable on the economy in Reno.
* John Edwards is also in Nevada, where he hosts a town hall meeting in Reno, attends a Steelworkers meet and greet in Henderson, and hosts a town hall in Las Vegas.
* Rudy Giuliani is in Florida. He attends a rally in Panama City, and holds a press conference in Pensacola.
* Mike Huckabee is in South Carolina, where he speaks at the South Carolina Renewal Project in Columbia, attends a fundraiser and receives an endorsement from Ray Scott in Traveler's Rest, and attends rallies in Tigerville and Charleston.
* John McCain is in South Carolina. He holds a rally in Greenville, then attends town hall meetings in Spartanburg, and Lake Wylie.
* Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting in Henderson, Nevada and a roundtable on the economy in Van Nuys, California.
* Mitt Romney spends the day in South Carolina, where he speaks with voters in Bluffton, Charleston, Florence, and Columbia.
* Fred Thompson is still in South Carolina, where he participates in a radio town hall event in Laurens, tours downtown Clinton, and meets voters in Abbeville and Orangeburg.
* The Senate Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook:
* The House Radio-Television Correspondents' Gallery Daybook:
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