Campaign '08

DETROIT (CBS News) ― John McCain sought to keep his momentum going strong. Mitt Romney looked to keep his candidacy afloat. And Mike Huckabee simply wanted to keep defying expectations.

No matter the winner, the Republican presidential primary in Michigan on Tuesday promised to add another wrinkle to a volatile nomination fight that lacks a clear favorite.

"There has been no Republican primary like this since the dawn of primaries," said CBS News Senior Political Correspondent Jeff Greenfield. "They are an organized party - they're like a frontrunner. This time, good luck finding one."

"It's going to be a very, very close race," predicted McCain, the Arizona senator hoping that independents and Democrats would join Republicans to help him repeat his 2000 win here.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and native son of Michigan whose late father once was the governor, was more confident, declaring in Grand Rapids: "Michigan is going to vote for a Romney again!"

CBS News early exit polls show that the economy was far and away the top issue on the minds of Republicans in Michigan today, with 55 percent listing it as their most important issue. As they exited the polls, more than two-thirds of Republicans said the U.S. economy was in bad shape.

More than two-thirds of those voting in today's Republican primary identified themselves as Republicans, while one-quarter were independents and seven percent were Democrats, according to early exit polls. In 2000, only 48 percent of voters were Republican, 35 percent were independents and 17 percent were Democrats.

Almost half of GOP primary voters said they made up their minds within the last week.

McCain and Romney were in a tight race, while Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, trailed both in pre-primary polling. Up for grabs were 30 delegates.

This morning, CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes asked Huckabee why he decided to campaign more extensively in Michigan than he originally planned.

"We wanted to show that we're in play even in a northern industrial state, and quite frankly, more so than I think people would have expected," Huckabee told Cordes.

A mere 20 percent of eligible voters were expected to show up at polling stations across frigid and snowy Michigan; turnout was likely to be depressed by a Democratic race of little to no consequence. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only top contender on the Democratic ballot.

For Republicans, the stakes varied.

Of the three candidates competing hard here, Romney needed a Michigan victory the most to right a bid weakened by searing losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. He was the only one planning to watch the voting returns in Michigan; his top Michigan opponents, McCain and Huckabee, campaigned in Michigan earlier but flew out of the state by afternoon to plant themselves in South Carolina, which votes Saturday.

A muddle from the start, the GOP race has only grown more fluid as the first states voted over the past two weeks.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses, McCain prevailed in New Hampshire's primary, and Romney was second to both - but claimed victory in scarcely contested Wyoming. Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator, is camping out in South Carolina looking for his first win. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, is doing the same in Florida, which votes Jan. 29.

"The more candidates that are in there, the worse it is it seems to me for John McCain, who is now leading in the national polls," said CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer.

Romney's Michigan roots figured prominently in his campaign here. He was born and raised in the state and his late father, George, was head of American Motors and a three-term governor in the 1960s. Romney announced his presidential candidacy in Michigan a year ago and has campaigned in it far more than his rivals and spent considerably more money on advertising in the state.

McCain had a built-in advantage of his own. He won the state's primary eight years ago on the strength of independent and Democratic-crossover voters, and still had a network of hard-core backers. This year, McCain didn't have to compete full-bore for non-Republican voters because the Democratic race in Michigan was essentially a beauty contest. Six months after his campaign nearly collapsed, he now leads national polls.

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, hoped to stage a surprise finish with the support from Christian evangelicals who live in the more conservative, western part of the state. With his populist pitch, Huckabee also wanted to do well in Reagan Republican country outside of Detroit. He came from behind to win the Iowa caucuses and sought another surprise finish.

The economy dominated the weeklong Michigan campaign. The state has been reeling from the U.S. auto industry's downturn and has the nation's highest unemployment rate at 7.4 percent.

Michigan doesn't typically hold its primary until February but state party officials scheduled it earlier to try to give the state more say in picking a president. The Republican National Committee objected and cut the number of Michigan delegates to the national convention by half as punishment while the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of all 128 delegates to its national convention.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)