Senator John McCain was heading for a double triumph early this morning (Irish time) in the Republican primary elections in Michigan and Arizona.
As expected Mr McCain won in his home state of Arizona, but in the more important primary in Michigan he appeared to have defeated his rival, Governor George Bush of Texas. Amazingly, this was thanks to Democrats who crossed party lines to support Mr McCain.
The result is a big disappointment for Mr Bush who had stopped the McCain band-wagon in the South Carolina primary last Saturday and had hoped to reinforce his position as frontrunner with a victory in the larger industrialised state of Michigan.
Exit polls were predicting that Mr McCain would win by a small margin when all the votes were counted. But the polls indicated that less than half the voters were registered Republicans. Most of those who turned out in record numbers were Democrats and independents who are allowed to vote in the Republican primary.
The third candidate, Mr Alan Keyes, won about 5 per cent of the conservative vote, which may have helped to defeat Mr Bush.
About two thirds of the Republican vote went to Mr Bush, but Mr McCain won the support of over 80 per cent of the non-Republican voters. Mr Bush, who left for California before the official result was announced, appeared to be conceding defeat when he said that "among Republicans there is no doubt who the winner is and you're looking at him".
There are 58 delegates to the Republican convention at stake in Michigan and 30 in Arizona. The convention next August will formally select the Republican candidate for the presidential election in November. However, the name of the successful candidate should emerge by mid-March when most of the primary elections will have taken place.
Going into yesterday's primaries, Mr Bush had 61 delegates to Mr McCain's 14. To win the nomination, a candidate needs 1,034 delegate votes at the convention.
Religious issues flared up in Michigan, where about one quarter of the population is Catholic, in the closing stages of the political campaigns.
Mr Bush angrily accused the McCain campaign of telephoning voters in Michigan claiming he was anti-Catholic. The Bush campaign released the text of the telephone message which read: "This is Catholic Voter Alert. Governor George Bush has campaigned against Senator John McCain by seeking the support of southern fundamentalists who have expressed anti-Catholic views. Governor Bush spoke at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Bob Jones has made strong anti-Catholic statements, including calling the Pope the anti-Christ, the Catholic Church a satanic cult. John McCain, a pro-life senator, has strongly criticised this anti-Catholic bigotry, while Governor Bush has stayed silent."
Mr Bush lashed back, telling reporters: "I thought comparing my trustworthiness to Bill Clinton was low, but calling me an anti-Catholic bigot . . . that's shameful politics."
The McCain campaign has denied the Bush charges and said that it was not making any calls.