Alabama: Huckabee, Obama win
MONTGOMERY, Ala. Exit polls from the Republican primary showed Huckabee, with
strong appeal to fellow Southern Baptists, defeating Arizona Sen.
John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ran
third.
Paul Reynolds, co-chairman of Huckabee's Alabama campaign, said
Huckabee made two trips to Alabama in the closing stretch - more
than any other candidate - and that helped show Alabama Republicans
that they had much in common with the former governor of Arkansas.
Across Alabama, about half of the Democratic voters were black,
and Obama, the Illinois senator, won 80 percent of their votes.
Exit polling also showed he captured 60 percent of the votes from
people under 30, who made up more than one in 10 voters.
His opponent, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, did not visit
Alabama during the closing days of the primary.
More than 58,000 new voters signed up in the three months
leading up to Super Tuesday, prompting election officials to
prepare for a better-than-average turnout. Temperatures across the
state were spring-like in the 70s and low 80s.
Tobias Wilson, a 20-year-old football player at predominantly
black Miles College in Birmingham, cast his first presidential vote
for Obama. "He gives a lot of African-Americans hope," said
Wilson.
Nina Patel, a 39-year-old housewife from Montgomery, went for
Clinton. "I think America should be ready for a woman leader,"
said Patel, who's of Indian ancestry.
On the Republican side, many voters who chose Huckabee said they
were influenced by his background as a Baptist minister and because
they viewed him as the most conservative candidate.
"My main issue was where they stand on the Lord and
conservative versus liberal. I'm conservative," said Jeff
McFarland, a 42-year-old Southern Baptist from Montgomery.
