The Associated Press wire news service sent its 54th and apparently final lead write-through (i.e. its 53rd update) of the Super Tuesday multi-state primary elections roundup story at 2:30 this morning. At that time, it said “Sen. John McCain seized command of the race for the Republican presidential nomination [... but] Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded victories in an epic struggle with no end in sight.”

The media may have hoped for landslides, and some of the states were called early, but a lot of the states had closely contested primaries. The Phoenix newsroom did some channel-hopping last night, but finally ended up with ABC, which slid from its planned five-hour coverage into six hours. At 2 a.m., when all the analysts and anchors said goodnight, Charlie Gibson smilingly told Diane Sawyer he’d watch her on “Good Morning America” (starting at 7 a.m.) to see how her stamina was holding up as she returned a few hours later.

All of the candidates will be hanging on as long as possible, too. Although McCain now has about 40% of the delegates he needs to capture the nomination, both Gov. Romney and Gov. Huckabee have pledged to keep fighting all the way. And as for the Democrats, although not all the contests were settled yet, Obama had won the vote in more states, but Clinton had won the more populous states, including New York, New Jersey and California. So she's apparently leading the delegate tally, but not with nearly enough to discourage the loudest self-proclaimed champion of change.

At this rate, the Pennsylvania primary may end up being relevant after all, even though it's so late in the campaign season. Can everyone hold their breath until April 22?

Posted by
Patricia Matson