Sens. McCain, Clinton Win Florida Presidential Primaries

Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Tuesday won the Florida Republican presidential primary with 36% of the vote, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 31%, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani with 15% and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 14%, CNN.com reports (CNN.com, 1/30). According to the Washington Post, McCain received support from "big margins" of Cuban-American voters, who consider health care one of their priorities (Whoriskey, Washington Post, 1/30).

In the Florida Democratic primary, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) won with 50% of the vote, followed by Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) with 33% and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) with 14% (CNN.com, 1/30). Exit polls conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International found that Clinton led Obama and Edwards among voters who considered health care their most important issue in the election (CNN.com, 1/29). However, the victory was "largely symbolic" for Clinton, as she will receive no delegates because Florida scheduled the primary earlier than the Democratic National Committee allowed, the Post reports (Shear/Eilperin, Washington Post, 1/30).