NY: McCain Swamps Romney

By Spencer S. Hsu
The Washington Post has called New York for Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), delivering the second biggest delegate prize of the night to the national GOP front-runner.

McCain swamped former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee in the winner-take-all contest for 101 Republican delegates.

Exit polls showed McCain won New York by outpacing Romney by a wide margin among Republicans, even while lagging behind Romney among "very conservative" GOP voters by 20 percentage points.

Among the nearly half of the electorate with positive views of the Bush administration's policies, Romney and McCain ran neck and neck, but McCain held a nearly 3 to 1 advantage among those who take a negative outlook on those policies.

Republican turnout was strong but dampened by the decision by former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to drop out last week and endorse McCain.