Governor George Bush has easily defeated Senator John McCain in the Republican primary in Virginia to win 56 more delegates for the nomination.
Exit polls predicted that Mr Bush's victory would be in double digits and that he won over 80 per cent of the votes of the religious right. This could be the backlash from attacks by Mr McCain on Monday on two of the leaders of these conservative Christians, the Rev Pat Robertson who heads the influential Christian Coalition, and the Rev Jerry Falwell.
The results from the two other primaries contested yesterday, Washington state and North Dakota will not be known until later today.
Mr McCain was not expecting to win in Virginia where Mr Bush has always been ahead but the size of his victory will give the Texas governor a boost in the run-up to 12 primaries on Super Tuesday next week where the outcome in California and New York will greatly influence the contest for the Republican nomination.
The result in Washington state in the north-west could give an indication of the performance of the two candidates in the all-important California primary.
In yesterday's primaries, 56 delegates were at stake in Virginia where the winner takes all. In North Dakota, 19 delegates were chosen and 12 in Washington where 25 more will be selected in caucuses later.
The Democratic candidates, Vice-President Al Gore and the former senator, Mr Bill Bradley, also contested the Washington primary which is non-binding for Democrats but will give an indication if the sagging Bradley campaign can be revived for Super Tuesday. Many political observers have already written off Mr Bradley.
There were further reverberations yesterday from the shock caused by Mr McCain's attack on the Rev Pat Robertson and the Rev Jerry Falwell. Mr McCain challenged their influence in the party by calling them "agents of intolerance".
The attack was part of Mr McCain's effort to identify Mr Bush with them and claim that his visit to the Bob Jones University in South Carolina was offensive to Catholic voters. The private college is noted for its anti-Catholic views and ban on inter-racial dating.
Mr Bush, who apologised for the visit in a letter to Cardinal O'Connor of New York, yesterday accused Mr McCain's campaign of continuing to make telephone calls calling him an anti-Catholic bigot. Invoking the name of the country's only Catholic president, Mr Bush said: "It's the kind of politics that John F. Kennedy rejected in the 1960s. It's the kind of politics we thought we had put behind us in America."
Mr Bush, who was campaigning in Ohio in the building of a Catholic organisation, rejected Mr McCain's claim to be emulating Mr Ronald Reagan by reaching out to non-Republicans. "Ronald Reagan did not have a spiteful agenda, he had an optimistic agenda as I do," Mr Bush said.
A Gallup poll for CNN-USA Today shows that Mr Bush maintains a big lead over Mr McCain among registered Republicans nation-wide. Mr McCain has so far only won primaries which allow non-Republicans to vote. Republicans favour Mr Bush over Mr McCain nation-wide by 62 per cent to 27 per cent.