With people in 22 states casting their vote for party nominations yesterday, it was thought that a clear frontrunner would emerge in both parties after all the votes were counted last night. Following attacks from Mitt Romney and hardline conservatives, John McCain ended up strengthening his lead for the Republican nomination by winning primaries in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Missouri, Oklahoma, Illinois, and his home state of Arizona. By the end of the day, Barack Obama had closed in on Hillary Clinton winning primaries in 11 states. However, the delegate count was so close (Clinton: 825, Obama: 732) that a frontrunner had still not emerged and left many still wondering who will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008.

And while the race for Democratic presidential nominee got even closer, the race for the Republican presidential nominee just got a little bit more confusing. Even though John McCain came out as a winner on Super Tuesday, Mike Huckabee won virtually ever state in the South and became an even more serious contender for the nomination, winning primaries in Arkansas and Tennessee. Most of McCain’s wins were either on the West Coast or the East Coast. The one Republican contender who did not fare as well as many had speculated was Mitt Romney, who only ended up winning 6 states, none of which won him a large number of delegates, except for in Romney’s home state of Massachusetts. Huckabee won primaries in 5 states on Tuesday, including the delegate-rich state of Georgia.

Barack Obama emerged strongly as a winner in important states like Georgia and Missouri. Hillary Clinton, however, managed to win important primaries in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California, all of which contained a large number of delegates to which she was awarded. Pollsters speculate that Obama’s surge in popularity over the last few weeks was not recent enough to be reflected in the numbers on Tuesday. Regardless, Obama showed that he could win big, not only in states like Illinois, but throughout middle-America as well. Obama picked up wins in the south in states like Alabama and Georgia, but also won in Plain states like Kansas and in the Mountain West in Utah and Colorado.

However, the delegate count, rather than the actual number of votes in each state, is what matters the most to the contenders for the presidential nomination in both parties. Out of the 1,191 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination, McCain now has 615, Romney has 268, and Huckabee has 169. In the Democratic presidential nomination process, 2,025 delegates are needed to secure the actual nomination. Clinton has 825 delegates and Obama has 732. Democratic candidates will be looking to score more delegates on Saturday with primaries in Louisiana and the Virgin Islands. There are also two Democratic caucuses on Saturday in Washington and Nebraska. Republican nominees will also be facing off again on Saturday in caucuses in Washington and Kansas as well as an important one in Louisiana.