KEY POINTS:
MIAMI - Senator John McCain won the Florida Republican primary today, defeating rival Mitt Romney in a close contest that gave momentum to his effort to become the party's US presidential candidate, US media projected.
The win gave McCain a lift headed into the February 5 Super Tuesday contests, when nearly half the US states choose Democratic and Republican presidential candidates for the November general election.
The victory also blunted criticism that Republican support for the maverick Arizona senator was too weak for him to win a Republicans-only contest that excluded independent voters. Florida's contest was limited to Republicans, unlike earlier states that allowed independents to participate.
McCain had a 36 per cent to 32 per cent lead on Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, with nearly half of the votes reported.
Giuliani, a former New York mayor who staked his campaign on a strong showing in Florida, the fourth most-populous state, was battling for a distant third place with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.
Giuliani was reportedly discussing a possible endorsement of McCain as early Wednesday in California, where Republicans are to debate in the evening.
The winner in Florida moves to the top of the pack in the seesawing state-by-state race to pick the Republican party's candidate in November's presidential election.
McCain and Romney have split the last four contests. McCain won in South Carolina and New Hampshire and Romney carried Michigan and Nevada, the latter a state scarcely contested by other Republicans. Huckabee won the kick-off contest in Iowa.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton easily won a Florida Democratic race that featured no active campaigning because of a dispute between the national and state parties. The national party stripped the state of its delegates to the national convention and Democratic candidates pledged to stay away.
But Clinton, who lost to rival Barack Obama in a landslide in South Carolina on Saturday, visited Florida after polls closed in a bid to claim at least a symbolic victory.
- REUTERS
