In what could be a pivotal day for the Democratic and Republican White House hopefuls, voters coast to coast will head to the polls in 24 states and American Samoa Tuesday. Super Tuesday is virtually a national primary day, and some of the biggest prizes of the primary season -- California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Missouri and Georgia -- are up for grabs.More than four-fifths of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination and more than 1,000 of the 1,191 necessary delegates on the Republican side are at stake.
Tuesday's results are more likely to be decisive to the contest among GOP nominee's Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee due to how the GOP allocates delegates.
Unlike Democrats, who usually split delegates by a proportion of the popular vote, the GOP will allocate delegates in most primary states on a winner-take-all basis -- either by congressional district or by statewide vote. That means that big-state wins by McCain, who leads national GOP polls, have the potential to propel him to a towering lead over his rivals.
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