Following the New Hampshire primary, Republican candidates headed to Michigan to campaign for the state's primary on Jan. 15. Before the contest, polls showed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., leading the field -- a situation similar to the run-up to the New Hampshire primary. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., placed third in most polls.
Ultimately, Romney -- whose campaign emphasized his childhood in Michigan and his father's position as former governor of the state -- won decisively with 39 percent of the vote. McCain finished second with 30 percent and Huckabee trailed in third place with 16 percent.
A victory in Michigan was critical for Romney, after second place finishes in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, won by Huckabee and McCain, respectively. Romney had hoped to win either or both of these first-in-nation contests. Neither former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y., who led many national polls at the end of 2007, nor former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., finished in the top three of these initial contests. Both candidates have focused their campaigns elsewhere: Giuliani on the Jan. 29 primary in Florida, and Thompson on South Carolina's primary, which will occur on Saturday. Thompson finished in second place behind Romney in Wyoming's primary.
For Democrats, the Michigan primary was uncontested. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., withdrew their names from the Michigan ballot after the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its delegates for altering the date of its primary. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., whose name remained on the ballot, won the state with 55 percent of the vote.
On Tuesday, the three leading Democrats, Clinton, Edwards and Obama, participated in a debate in Nevada, which will hold caucuses on Saturday. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, a distant fourth among the Democrats in national polls, was barred from appearing in the debate by MSNBC, the debate's co-host, based on his poor finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire. Kucinich took legal action against the network. Initially, a judge sided with the congressman, threatening to block the debate if MSNBC did not offer Kucinich a spot. The Nevada Supreme Court later reversed the decision, siding with the network.
Republicans have largely ignored the Nevada contest. South Carolina's Republican primary and Nevada's caucuses for both parties will occur on Saturday. The Democratic primary in South Carolina will take place a week later on Jan. 26.
