Democrats Split Vote

US Senator John McCain said he was confident Republicans would name him to run for president after he won a string of states in Tuesday's across-the-nation primaries.

"We still have a ways to go, but we're much closer to the victory we've worked so hard to achieve," McCain, 71, told cheering supporters in his home state of Arizona. "I am confident we will get there."

McCain, a Vietnam War veteran who took an unpopular stand by backing last year's US troop surge in Iraq, won Republican polls in at least seven states Tuesday and widened his lead in the party's nomination race over rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

McCain took the upperhand on Tuesday after securing wins in nine states including California. His Republican rivals Mitt Ronmeny and Mike Huckabee refused to accept defeat after taking home six and five states respectively.

If elected in the November general election, McCain would become the oldest president to take office. After his campaign slumped last year, he pulled off a major comeback in early primaries in January.

"And although I've never minded the role of the underdog ... tonight I think we must get used to the idea that we are the Republican Party front-runner for the nomination," McCain said. "And I don't really mind it one bit."

Democrats split vote

Democratic White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama claimed Tuesday to be riding a wave of support across the country despite a round of tight primaries that left the party with no clear winner.

"There is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final results to know. Our time has come," he told cheering supporters.

"Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America," he said. "What began as a whisper has now swelled to a chorus that cannot be deterred."

Democratic voters went to polls in 22 states. While Obama won big victories in Georgia, Alabama and Illinois, rival Hillary Clinton took the biggest prize, California. Obama took a total of 12 states; Hillary won eight.

Americans vote for change

National exit polls showed more than half of Democratic voters ranked the ability to bring change as the top attribute for a candidate.

Obama painted himself as an alternative to Clinton, who he said was too entrenched in Washington politics and could not beat a Republican nominee in the November general election.

"We have to choose between change and more of the same. We have to choose between looking backwards and looking forwards," he said.

"It's a choice between going into this election with Republicans and independents already united against us or going against their nominee with a campaign that has united Americans of all parties, all backgrounds, all religions, around a common purpose," he said.

Obama, a charismatic senator vying to become the first black president, also pulled off a key win in Connecticut, according to television network projections, a state where the former first lady had led polls until a few weeks ago. He also took Minnesota and Missouri, two mid-west battleground states.

Democrats' vote too close to call

But Clinton, also hoping to make history as America's first woman president, kept an Obama surge at bay by winning New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts -- despite Obama endorsements from the state's Democratic senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry.

Senator Hillary Clinton defeated Obama in the key California Democratic primary, capturing a majority of the state's massive trove of 370 delegates for the party's presidential nomination. The western state is the biggest prize of the Super Tuesday primaries, and Hispanic voters were expected to play a major role in the result.

On Tuesday Clinton vowed to keep fighting for the Democratic nomination for the White House.

"I look forward to continuing our campaign and our debate about how to leave this country better off for the next generation because that is the work of my life," she told cheering supporters.

She looked forward to coming contests but urged voters to focus on the issues. "Because you know that politics isn't a game. It is not about who is up or down. It is about your lives, your families, your futures," she said.

The mixed outcome in the coast-to-coast voting, with all contenders in both parties scoring at least five wins, appeared certain to prolong the hard-fought nominating races in both parties.

A new round of contests in a half-dozen states are slated this weekend and in the coming week.