Will front-runners emerge?

More than 20 states are holding
primaries and caucuses today.

DALLAS MORNING NEWS

LOS ANGELES — Voters may clarify the presidential field today with coast-to-coast contests that could cement John McCain’s top spot in the GOP and give a clear edge to either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama.

Nobody is expected to get enough delegates to clinch the nomination. But the outcome might set the stage for a showdown over the final shape of the ticket.

“McCain will be well on his way to putting this away,” said Republican consultant Don Sipple. “On the Democratic side, it’s going to be a long slog. And the thing to watch out for is who’s growing and who’s shrinking.”

More than 20 states hold primaries and caucuses today, deciding which candidates receive an allotment of delegate to the parties’ national conventions this summer. That’s what ultimately determines the party’s nominee. Several Republican contests today are winner-take-all, giving McCain a shot to nearly finish off Mitt Romney. But Democrats divide their delegates proportionally within states, meaning the outcome could be much murkier.

In a broader sense, though, the contests underscore a fight within each party over its identity — Republicans defining what it means to be conservative in the post-Bush era and Democrats debating experience versus change in a bid to retake the White House.

McCain, sounding increasingly confident as he leads in national polls and those in most individual states, is focusing on large states with the hope of a big delegate haul on Super Tuesday.

“I will be the nominee of the party,” the Arizona senator said, dismissing escalating attacks by Romney that he’s too moderate to be the GOP standard bearer.

Campaigning Monday in the former Massachusetts governor’s back yard, McCain told a Boston rally he will “preserve my proud conservative Republican credentials.” But his appeal to moderates and independents, he argued, will help assure victory in November.

Romney pressed his case that McCain is too liberal for the GOP, warning, “We cannot let our party take that left turn.”

He sought to rally Republicans in a day of cross-country campaign stops by declaring himself the true heir to “the house that Reagan built” and vowed not to quit no matter what happens in today’s delegate-rich contests.

“I don’t think it’s going to be over Tuesday night,” he told reporters aboard his campaign plane. “I wish it were over in my favor; I hope it’s not over against me.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, trailing in the polls, has focused on Southern and Midwestern states in an appeal to social conservative voters who were key to his only win so far in Iowa.

On the Democratic side, the race is expected to go well beyond today.

Both candidates will score gains on Super Tuesday, as delegates are doled out based on results in individual congressional districts, not just statewide votes. The fierce battle in California, the day’s biggest prize, underscored efforts by both Democrats to win the total vote in key states and claim bragging rights as the party’s front-runner.

The next big-delegate states to hold primaries are Texas and Ohio on March 4, which could prove decisive if the nomination is still up for grabs.

In East Rutherford, N.J., Obama appeared at the IZOD Center at the Meadowlands, next to the home of the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.

“Sometimes the underdog pulls it out,” Obama said. “You can’t always believe the pundits and prognosticators.”

At a weekend rally of her own in Los Angeles, Clinton dismissed her Democratic rival’s message as mere talk, arguing she’s better positioned to take action.

“Talking about change is easy; making change is hard,” she said.

Hoping to poach some of Clinton’s support among women, the Obama campaign dispatched Oprah Winfrey and the candidate’s wife, Michelle, for a rally in Los Angeles ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday.