John McCain has clinched the Republican nomination for November's US presidential election. Four big victories in Tuesday's primaries drove McCain's rival Mike Huckabee from the race. In the Democratic camp, Clinton and Obama are neck and neck and await t

John McCain, an unflinching supporter of the Iraq War, will represent the Republican Party in November's presidential poll.

Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have split a pair of small-state primaries.

Obama won in Vermont on Tuesday, gaining nearly 60 per cent of the vote to claim his twelfth straight victory over the former first lady.

However, Clinton won in another small north-eastern state, Rhode Island, where she collected about 53 per cent of the vote. Moreover, the former first lady won a crucial showdown with her rival in Ohio and breathed new life into her struggling campaign and prolong the Democratic race. Both Obama and Clinton await now the results in Texas.