By Michelle Westgate

Super Tuesday’s primary contests confirmed the front-runner status of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who captured the largest states that were up for grabs in the Republican contests. The night, however, was not without surprises.

Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), who was expected by many to drop out of the race due to poor results in South Carolina and Florida, instead experienced a resurgence of voters throughout the southern states. In addition, Mitt Romney, who was expected to pose the strongest opposition to McCain, saw his chances blunted by Huckabee’s surprising success.

“We have a ways to go still,” McCain said at his election night rally in Phoenix Ariz. “But we are much closer to the victory we have worked so hard to achieve.”

McCain’s campaign has been a rollercoaster leading up to the Super Tuesday primary. Prior to former New York City’s Mayor Rudolph Giuliani becoming the Republican front-runner late last summer, McCain was the leading choice for many Republicans. But his campaign landed on hard times when McCain ran out of money and had to fire campaign staff. Just a few weeks ago, there were rumors that McCain’s campaign was out of money, again. On Tuesday, however, Republican voters chose McCain more often than any other candidate.

“Super Tuesday was a tremendous victory for Republicans in New York,” said New York State Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Mondello in a statement on Feb. 6.

Huckabee delighted in his surprise victories in southern, religiously conservative states. “You know, over the past few days a lot of people have been trying to say that this is a two-man race,” he said at his election night rally in Little Rock, Ark. “Well, you know what? It is. And we’re in it!”

Richard Himelfarb, an associate professor of political science, described Huckabee’s advance as an upset. “What this says is that McCain has not sealed the deal yet,” he said.

According to Himelfarb, many people who consider themselves conservatives are not ready for McCain’s political views that some see as not conservative enough. Instead, there are many social conservatives who are looking for representation from candidates like Huckabee, he said.

Most of the states that held Republican contests on Super Tuesday were winner-take-all, giving McCain’s victories in nine states added importance. McCain led with 707 delegates, compared to 294 for Romney and 195 for Huckabee, according to Associated Press estimates. Nearly 1,200 delegates are needed to win the nomination.

With fifteen more primary elections scheduled between now and June 7, it may still be too early to name a leading Republican candidate. “McCain is out in front, but not so far that nobody can catch up,” Himelfarb said.

At a press conference in Ariz. early Wednesday, McCain vowed to “unite the party” by bringing the more conservative and moderate Republicans together. Several political commentators and talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, have publicly said they will not vote for McCain. McCain has said that he will not meet with Coulter or Limbaugh to discuss their differences.

“We will have a message that will appeal to all of them,” said McCain, referring to his Republican opponents and pundits.

After the primary results were announced, NBC News reported that Romney was going to have “frank discussions” with senior staff at his Boston campaign headquarters on Wednedsay. But at press time there was no indication Romney was leaving the race.

Andrew Stream, president of the Nassau County Young Republicans, was not surprised by the results. “We expected him [McCain] to take New York and the GOP,” he said, adding that “what was surprising was that New York left Giuliani on the ballot.”

Giuliani received more than 18,000 votes, even though he had dropped out of the race after placing third in Florida, a state he said repeatedly was a “must win” for his campaign.

“This means the results are skewed,” Stream said. The number of votes for Giuliani amount to approximately 3 percent of the Republican votes in New York, according to the New York Times. “Those are wasted votes,” Stream said.

“With Senator McCain at the head of our ticket, Republicans in New York and across the nation can look forward to a bright future,” Mondello said.