Sen. Kerry Wins Five States; Places Second in S. Carolina

John Kerry won solidly in Missouri, Delaware, Arizona, North Dakota and New Mexico but coming in second place to Sen. John Edwards in South Carolina and third in a tight race in Oklahoma.

Kerry told CNN he was “very, very gratified” by the results in the first nationwide test for the Democratic hopefuls.

Kerry had a decisive first-place showing in the critical state of Missouri, the largest single delegate state at stake Tuesday. He also claimed victories in Delaware and Arizona as well as the North Dakota and New Mexico caucuses.

“I’ll take 50 percent anywhere any time,” Kerry said of early exit polls showing him with half the vote in Missouri.

Oklahoma proved a close race with retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark winning a narrow victory, followed closely by Edwards and Kerry running third. Clark had focused intense efforts on Oklahoma and had been performing well in public opinion polls in the days leading up to the primary.

“Now we carry this campaign and the cause of a stronger, fairer, more prosperous America to all parts of our country,” Kerry said in remarks to supporters in Seattle Tuesday night. “We will take nothing for granted; we will compete everywhere and in November, we will beat George W. Bush.”

Kerry paid special tribute to the veterans who have supported his campaign and spoke on key points of his platform, such as health care, foreign policy and energy dependence.

The Kerry campaign has been on a roll after big wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, and has led or been near the top in public opinion polls in the seven states participating in the Feb. 3 primary.

Analysts said his second-place finish to Edwards by a double-digit margin in South Carolina could slow that momentum, breathing new life into the bids of some of his rivals and ending speculation that his campaign could be on the cusp of a clean sweep of the Democratic primaries.

The battle between Kerry and South Carolina native Edwards for the Palmetto State’s voters had been hard fought, with Edwards calling it a “crucial bellwether” for his campaign.

Kerry officially launched his presidential bid in South Carolina and also had the influential endorsement of the state’s only African American in Congress, Rep. James Clyburn.

“We expected it,” Kerry told reporters of his second-place finish in South Carolina. “I think coming in second is enormous given where I’ve been.”

Missouri is the biggest prize with 74 delegates out of the total 269 Democratic delegates at stake Tuesday. The state was thrown into wide contention after “favorite son” candidate Rep. Richard Gephardt dropped out of the race on Jan. 20 following his fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.

Kerry is the only candidate who advertised and campaigned in all the states in play this week. After a six-day swing through the Feb. 3 primary states, Kerry spent most of Tuesday at campaign events in Washington state, which hosts caucuses on Saturday.

Kerry burst out of the Democratic field with a surprise victory in Iowa on Jan. 19, garnering the support of 38 percent of those attending the nearly 2,000 caucuses, defeating the one-time front-runner, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

“I want to offer my optimistic, positive vision for the country, and I’m going to continue to try to do that as we go to New Hampshire, where I, incidentally, will start again as an underdog,” Kerry told the NewsHour after his Iowa victory.

Kerry’s come-from-behind win in the Iowa poll propelled his campaign push for the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, where he had trailed Dean and Clark. At one point in December Kerry was more than 30 percentage points from the lead in the polls

The Massachusetts senator went on to score a solid victory over Dean and his other rivals in New Hampshire, establishing himself as the front-runner after garnering 39 percent of the vote.

Kerry will now face new challenges ahead of the March 2 primary when key states like New York and California weigh in on the vote.