Sen. John McCain cemented his Republican front-runner status Tuesday, piling up big wins coast-to- coast, according to CNN projections.

Democratic voters remain evenly split on Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama for their party's nomination.

The presidential races head to key primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia next Tuesday. The candidates hope to gain momentum for those with victories in the Louisiana primaries and Washington state caucuses on Saturday.

In what could be a pivotal day for the Democratic and Republican White House hopefuls, voters coast to coast will head to the polls in 24 states and American Samoa Tuesday.

Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day, and some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs.

More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani plans to drop out of the presidential race and endorse McCain at an event in California, two GOP sources with direct knowledge of the plans said.

Giuliani was a distant third with the results from Tuesday's voting almost final.

While Giuliani didn't say he was withdrawing from the race, he did speak of his campaign in the past tense at one point.

"I'm proud I ran a positive campaign," he told supporters. "I ran a campaign that was uplifting."

Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are in a close race for first in South Carolina, according to exit polls.
Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are vying for third place in the pivotal Republican primary.

Results from the GOP primary come just hours after the Nevada caucuses.

Sen. Hillary Clinton won Nevada's Democratic caucuses and Romney claimed victory on the Republican side, according to CNN projections.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who ran as a son of Michigan though he left the state nearly 40 years ago, won a commanding victory Tuesday in the Republican primary here with a message aimed at voters deeply anxious about the state’s ailing economy.

Mr. Romney defeated his principal rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, by winning a clear plurality of Republicans and conservatives, who turned out in greater numbers than they had in the 2000 primary, which Mr. McCain won.

Clinton, coming off a disappointing third-place finish in Iowa, rebounded to first place, overcoming rival Sen. Barack Obama in the state's Democratic primary.

The win breathes new life into a Democratic campaign that turns its focus to contests in Nevada and South Carolina -- and could stretch past "Super Tuesday" February 5.

Supporters at Clinton's headquarters chanted "comeback kid" as the results arrived.

Clinton had trailed Obama by 9 points in recent polls. Video Watch what's next for campaigns »

Sen. Barack Obama, bidding to be the first black president in American history, won the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, pushing Sen. Hillary Clinton back to third place in the opening test of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to victory over Mitt Romney.

Obama, 46, told a raucous victory rally his triumph showed that in "big cities and small towns, you came together to say, 'We are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.'"

The first contest of the U.S. presidential election campaign comes this week in the midwestern state of Iowa, where Democrats and Republicans will hold caucuses Thursday night. VOA correspondent Paula Wolfson reports, candidates from both major parties are hoping for an early victory.