(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-06 11:41

WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Clinton scored early "Super Tuesday" wins over rival Barack Obama and Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee won big victories as 24 US states voted in contests that could help pick the presidential nominees of both parties.

US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) greets fans after appearing on the David Letterman Show in New York, February 4, 2008. [Agencies]

Clinton won five states including a big victory in New York, which she represents in the US Senate. Obama took three states including Illinois, which he represents in the Senate. Clinton also won Arkansas, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Tennessee, while Obama also took Delaware and Georgia.

McCain, an Arizona senator hoping to knock rivals Mitt Romney and Huckabee out of the race with a strong night, rolled to wins in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Illinois on the biggest day of US presidential voting ahead of November's election.

Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor, won in his home state and Alabama and West Virginia. Huckabee had aimed for a strong showing in the South with its concentration of evangelical Christians.

Romney won in Massachusetts, where he served as governor. All three Republicans were running close in Georgia in early returns, with the result too close to call, US television networks said.

More than half the total delegates to the Democratic party convention in August and about 40 percent of the delegates to the Republican convention in September were up for grabs. The delegates select the candidates for the November 4 election.

The split results, with all the remaining contenders scoring at least one early win, appeared likely to prolong the hard-fought nominating races in both parties. Another series of contests is scheduled next week in a half-dozen states.

Economic worries - plunging housing values, rising energy and food prices, jittery financial markets and new data showing a big contraction in the service sector - eclipsed the Iraq war as voters' top concern, exit polls showed.