US elections 'Super Tuesday': Live Report

0348 GMT: Santorum racks up a third victory for the night in North Dakota. In the key state of Ohio, the race between Romney and Santorum has narrowed even further.

0330 GMT: Romney's victory speech focuses more on President Barack Obama than on any of his Republican rivals. Romney may be the front-runner in the Republican race, with big-name establishment support, but he has not yet clinched the nomination.

Romney says that while campaigning he has met people without jobs, and others who have to work two jobs to make ends meet. "President Obama keeps telling these Americans that the recovery's here. But for them, the recession is not over. That's for sure," Romney says.

"To the millions of Americans who look around and can only see jobs they can't get and bills that they -- that they can't pay, I have a message: You have not failed. You have a president that's failed you, and that's going to change."

0316 GMT: In his Boston speech, Romney iss careful not to mention Ohio, a key state where the race with rival Rick Santorum remains too close to call. Early US media projections show Santorum with a narrow lead, though no US network has declared that he has won the state.

0256 GMT: "I'm not going to let you down. I'm going to get this nomination," Romney tells his supporters in Boston, even as he congratulated Santorum and Gingrich for their wins of the night.

"Americans have always known that the future will be brighter and better," Romney says, blaming President Barack Obama for "faltering economy and a failed presidency."

Addressing those who are unemployed and having a hard time in the economy, he says: "You have not failed. You have a president that has failed you."

The crowd in Boston chants "We Need Mitt!"

0245 GMT: To chants of "We Love Mitt!," Romney takes the stage at his victory party. His wife Ann thanks a long list of high-profile supporters as she warms up the crowd for her husband.

0243 GMT: There were some groans near the screens at the Romney event in Boston when TV projections showed Santorum edging ahead in Ohio.

"Nooooooo," cried out registered nurse Antonia Alen, 74 as she stared at the screen. "This country is going down and down. The economy here is terrible, and Romney is an expert in the economy. He has to win."

0231 GMT: At the Romney event in Boston, corrrespondent Michael Mathes reports that the screens stopped showing TV feeds just minutes after Fox News showed the latest Ohio results with Santorum leading Romney 39 percent to 36 percent.

The 1970s rock song "More than a Feeling" by the band Boston blares in the background.

"Campaigns come down to the four M's: Message, Momentum, Money and Muscle," Republican political campaign consultant Brad Marston, who is unaffiliated but used to support Republican Herman Cain -- who earlier dropped out of the race -- tells Mathes.

0220 GMT: Ear splitting cheers as Santorum comes on stage, preceded by announcer with a deep voice declaring arrival of "the Santorum family." Much of his huge family is on the crowded stage, several of the male members in the candidate?s now trademark, if still highly untrendy sleeveless sweater vest. Santorum himself is for once wearing a dark suit and tie.

0212 GMT: At the Santorum event in Steubenville, campaign strategist John Brabender is already talking up the future primaries such as Kansas and Mississippi. "Believe me, there is no resting in this campaign," he tells reporters.

The Santorum campaign clearly believes its best chance of winning will be if Newt Gingrich drops out of the race. Santorum has lost several primaries to Romney only because Gingrich split the conservative Republican vote. "Conservatives and Tea Party folks are going to have to make a decision," he tells our correspondent Sebastian Smith.

Brabender dismisses Santorum rival Mitt Romney as "Obama lite."

0206 GMT: Several US networks, including CNN, now projecting a Santorum victory in Oklahoma. The key state of Ohio remains too close to call.

0204 GMT: "There are lots of bunny rabbits that run through. I'm the tortoise, I just take one step at a time," Gingrich tells supporters at his victory party. "We survived the national elite's effort to kill us in the summer because of you, because of people who said we are not going to allow the elite to decide who we are allowed to nominate."

0153 GMT: Two US media networks project a victory in Oklahoma for Rick Santorum.

0150 GMT: AFP correspondent Paula Bustamante, at the Gingrich event in Atlanta, reports that just before the candidate arrived a pastorled the crowd in a prayer to ask God to "help us" to take the country on the path of good. A Pledge of Allegiance to flag followed, and singer Larry Bubba McDonalds sang "God Bless America" and Georgia Is On My Mind."

0145 GMT: Newt Gingrich speaks to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters at his victory election party in Atlanta. "We are not going to allow the elite to decide who we will nominate," Gingrich tells the crowd. He is introduced by his wife Callista, sporting her trademark platinum hairdo.

0140 GMT: Sarah Palin for president in 2016? "Anything in this life, in this world is possible," the controversial former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate told CNN, as she voted in her home town of Wasilla, Alaska.

"I would seriously consider whatever I can do to help our country, to put things back on the right track," she said.

Palin refused to say who she voted for in the state Republican caucus, but did tell CNN she believed that the long competition "makes all our candidates better."

0135 GMT: Rick Santorum scores a victory in Tennessee, according to US media projections, his first win of the night.

0124 GMT: In contrast, at the lower-budget Santorum event in Ohio, Frank Sinatra songs and other classic tunes are being played over the school announcement system, AFP correspondent Smith reports.

The crowd is almost entirely white, but colorful in other ways. It includes four jovial nuns and an old man wearing a sweatshirt that reads, "How?s that Hope and Change working for you?," a derisive reference to Obama?s feel good slogans during his victorious 2008 campaign. Two knee-high boys come in with their parents, wearing baseball caps that say: "Coal equals jobs."

Danny Mosti, who just retired as police chief in the nearby small Ohio town of Toronto, says he comes from a hardcore pro-Democratic family but hates Obama so much and is so angry about rising energy costs that he?ll now vote for Santorum.

"I?ll never vote Democrat again. I wised up. Anyone who goes to put gas in their car can?t vote Democrat again," the burly 62-year-old told Smith. Obama "is destroying the country."

0115 GMT: "Great to be back home," Romney told reporters and supporters in Belmont, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts where he and his wife voted. "We're looking forward to sleeping in our own bed tonight and being with family."

His Massachusetts victory was assured -- Romney had lived in the state for decades and served as governor.

At a downtown Boston hotel, party leaders, old time Romney faithful and supporter crowded into a ballroom for the victory party, correspondent Michael Mathes reports. The live band is playing some sizzling -- and loud -- rock n roll, including songs like "R.E.S.P.E.C.T." and "Moves Like Jagger."

0100 GMT: Romney wins in Massachusetts, as expected, according to US media projections.

0054 GMT: Mit Romney wins in the presidential primary in the northeastern state of Vermont, according to US media projections.

0050 GMT: Ohio is a crucial state to win, as few presidents have been elected to office without winnining in the key midwestern state. Ohio voters have supported the winning presidential candidate since 1964, and no Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio, according to local media.

0030 GMT: Polls close in Ohio but the race is too close to call, according to US media.

0028 GMT: Supporters are waiting for Rick Santorum in the gymnasium of Steubenville High School, in eastern Ohio. Santorum chose Steubenville for his Super Tuesday party because the town fits his base -- a small town of churches, working and defunct steel works, and located at the border of Ohio and his native Pennsylvania.

Santorum has been telling voters that he wants to fight for small town America, "the heart and soul" of the country.

Steubenville probably hasn?t seen so much excitement since the heyday of Dean Martin, the legendary crooner who was born here in 1917. The usually near deserted streets are now swarming with journalists.

Outside the high school there?s a forest of satellite trucks with enormous dishes, while there are more than 100 reporters and camera crews in the gym set up around the fringes of the basketball court.

0018 GMT: Romney wins in Virginia, according to US networks projections, his first victory of the night.

0016 GMT: Newt Gingrich sent a Twitter message upon hearing of victory in his home state. "Thank you Georgia! It is gratifying to win my home state so decisively to launch our March Momentum," Gingrich wrote.

About 200 people at the Newt 2012 Election Night Party at the Renaissance Waverly Hotel in Atlanta screamed and cheered when they learned of Gingrich's Georgia victory.

0010 GMT: In Columbus, Ohio, our correspondent Sebastian Smith interviewed Republican voters who were ambivalent about their choices.

"I voted for Romney because he has more experience and is older," said Robert Montgomery, a 67-year-old former Marine and longtime bus driver. "But to be honest with you, I don't think that any one of the Republicans is qualified to be president of the United States."

He described Romney's current main challenger, Rick Santorum, as "out of the question," and Newt Gingrich "a joke."

Jim Ray, who manages a truck dealership, voted for Romney merely for pragmatic reasons. "I just think he has the best chance of winning against Obama," said Ray, 46.

0002 GMT: US media is not making any projections on winners for either Vermont or Virginia. In Virginia, only Romney and Ron Paul appeared on the ballot.

0000 GMT: US media projects Newt Gingrich to win his home state of Georgia, as expected.

2355 GMT: At a White House press conference, a reporter asked President Barack Obama to respond to Romney's claims that he is the most "feckless" president since Jimmy Carter in the 1970s.

"Good luck tonight," Obama laughed in response, prompting another reporter at the news conference to ask "Really?" Obama smiled. "Really," he said.

2348 GMT: In the southern state of Georgia, former House speaker Newt Gingrich hoped that a big win in his home state would serve as a launchpad for a southern sweep that could get him back into the Republican presidential race.

Gingrich, 68, enjoyed a surge back in January, but after his surprise victory in South Carolina he was outspent and steamrolled by the Romney juggernaut in Florida. His support has since plummeted.

If Gingrich can garner more than 50 percent in each district in Georgia -- quite likely because polls that have him more than 20 percentage points ahead -- he would take the majority of the 76 precious delegates up for grabs.

Gingrich would then aim for victories on March 13 in the conservative southern states of Alabama and Mississippi, where Romney is expected to struggle.

2340 GMT: Mitt Romney says he's happy to head home and vote in Massachusetts after he and his wife Ann wrapped up a marathon swing through several of the 10 states voting Tuesday.

Romney, who turns 65 next week, cast his ballot at a community center in the town of Belmont, outside Boston. He told reporters he was looking forward to enjoying a chicken marsala dinner cooked by his son Tagg.

2330 GMT: Welcome to AFP's Live Report on Super Tuesday, the biggest night yet for Republican presidential candiates. Voters in a whopping ten states cast ballots in the battle to be the party's presidential nominee, the man to face Democrat Barack Obama in the November 6, 2012 presidential vote.

Voters will cast ballots in the states of Georgia, Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and North Dakota. In Alaska, tonight starts a two-week long caucus process.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, ex-speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul are all vying for the party's top spot. But not every candidate is up in every state -- in Virginia, for example, Santorum and Gingrich did not get enough signatures from supporters to get their names on the ballot.

Technically, voters are choosing delegates who will travel to the Republican National Convention in late August in Tampa, Florida and vote for the candidates they represent. Political conventions have long been a formality, a place where the party's presidential candidate is anointed. This year, however, deep divisions have emerged in the party, and some -- especially Gingrich -- are talking of a brokered convention, which would be the first since 1940.

Tonight's vote is "super" because more delegates will be chosen than any other day during the primary selection process. In all, 410 delegates are in play.

Each state has its own quirky way of awarding delegates, and none of the states voting today are winner-take-all.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-elections-super-tuesday-live-report-233304520.html

mt rainier national park rose parade mount rainier national park drop dead gorgeous ticket city bowl 2011 nfl playoff schedule cowboys vs giants