AL: AP Gives Win to Huckabee, Obama

By Darryl Fears
The Associated Press projected former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the winner of the Republican primary in Alabama with about 30 percent of precincts reporting. The news service declared Huckabee the winner over Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), even though McCain led at the point in the vote.

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a distant third, was not a factor in the voting or the tracking polls.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) was also projected as the winner by the AP over Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.). It was Obama's second projected defeat of Clinton in a southern state. He also won in Georgia. Obama's sizable lead, 60 percent to 38 percent, with about a third of the precincts reporting, defied tracking polls that gave the edge to Clinton. Obama led her handily in spite of a visit by Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, to Huntsville on Saturday.

Huckabee was also in Huntsville that day, campaigning hard to distance himself from McCain. As in other state primaries, Alabama voters turned out in large numbers, in spite of forecasts for thunderstorms and tornados. By noon in Montgomery, 20 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, equal to the percentage of voters who did so over the entire primary four years ago.