WASHINGTON (AFP) — Senator John McCain has won the Republican party's caucuses in Louisiana while longshot candidate Ron Paul took second place, the state party said Wednesday, citing preliminary results.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a leading candidate for the Republican nomination, came in third, Louisiana Republican party Chairman Roger Villere said in a statement.
"I offer my congratulations Senator John McCain on his success in the Louisiana caucuses," Villere said in a statement.
"Senator McCain is an American hero and this is further evidence that he enjoys strong support in Louisiana and throughout the South," he said.
Villere did not release any figures from the caucuses held Tuesday evening, stressing that that the results were preliminary.
The Louisiana contest, however, is not a battleground state in the race for the Republican nomination as candidates have focused on bigger prizes in South Carolina and Florida.
McCain, who won the New Hampshire primary earlier this month, took first place in the South Carolina contest on January 19.
Romney has captured Wyoming, Michigan and Nevada, while former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus on January 3.
Republicans are now campaigning hard in Florida, which holds a crucial primary Tuesday that has become a do-or-die contest for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has focused his campaing in the large southern state.
A new Florida poll by the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday showed McCain leading the state with 25 percent, followed by Romney with 23 percent. Giuliani trailed at 15 percent.
Giuliani Wednesday sidestepped the question whether he would continue his race if he loses in Florida.
Asked by CNN interviewer Larry King if he would fight on regardless of the result of Tuesday's Florida primary on which he has staked his high-risk campaign, Giuliani said: "I do not contemplate loss."
"We're going to win in Florida. I have a very good feeling about it," said the ex-New York mayor, who is betting everything on Florida after all but ignoring the early nominating contests in states where he has limited support.
"The polls that we see when you average them out are all within the margin of error," Giuliani said on CNN. "We think they're going to break over the weekend."
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