First polls close as candidates hope for Super Tuesday wins
Washington - The polls closed Tuesday evening in the first three of 10 states where Republicans voted to decide the party's presidential nominee in the largest day of state-by-state voting yet in the 2012 election cycle.
Four candidates are still competing to become the conservative party's choice in the November elections against President Barack Obama, who is unopposed for renomination in the left-leaning Democratic Party.
States as diverse as Georgia in the South, the industrial Midwestern state of Ohio and sparsely populated Alaska were casting ballots on Super Tuesday, as the day has come to be known. The last votes will be cast in Alaskan caucuses, which close at 8 pm (0500 GMT Wednesday).
Massachusetts former governor Mitt Romney hopes to extend his lead as Republican frontrunner, but must face three rivals – former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul – who are hoping to unseat him as the party's heir apparent and claim support from the party's conservative wing.
A strong showing on Super Tuesday - when Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia also have their say - could provide the strategic boost that Romney needs to claim the party mantle.
President Barack Obama even weighed in on the contest earlier Tuesday at a White House press conference.
"What would you like to say to Mr Romney?" Obama was asked during hours before polls began to close.
"Good luck tonight," he said with a grin, eliciting laughter from reporters.
Ohio is seen as the big prize on Super Tuesday, because it is key in November presidential elections - no Republican has ever been elected president without winning there - and its demographic mix closely mirrors the nation at large. The race there has been too close to call between Romney and Santorum in recent opinion surveys.
The Super Tuesday vote could give momentum to other candidates. Santorum hopes for a strong showing in Southern states, including Tennessee, where evangelical Christian voters make up a larger share of the electorate and social issues play a larger role.
Gingrich's home state of Georgia is also among those voting, and the ex-congressman hopes his former constituents will give him a win in another state. His last victory came in South Carolina in January, and his campaign has since faltered.//DPA
