Governor George Bush and Vice-President Al Gore are going into the "Super Tuesday" primaries next week buoyed by large wins over their rivals.
Mr Bush spoke of a "spring in my step" yesterday as he absorbed the results from the Republican primaries in Virginia, North Dakota and Washington state where he decisively defeated Senator John McCain.
Mr Gore spoke of a "sweet victory" over his rival for the Democratic nomination, the former senator Mr Bill Bradley, whom he crushed in Washington state by 68 per cent to 31 per cent. The defeat is all the more demoralising for Mr Bradley as he had devoted five days to campaigning in the north-west state in the hope of reviving his flagging campaign which has him trailing Mr Gore in virtually all states.
Reports that Mr Bradley would retire before Super Tuesday on March 7th, when over half of the delegates to the Democratic convention will be chosen, were denied by his spokesman but political observers have now written off the Bradley challenge.
Mr McCain's challenge to front-runner Mr Bush is also in trouble as they go into next Tuesday's cluster of 12 primaries with California and New York the big prizes. The polls show that Mr Bush leads Mr McCain among Republican voters in both states.
Mr Bush's wins on Tuesday this week in Virginia, North Dakota and Washington state mean he now has 170 delegates compared with 105 for Mr McCain since the primaries began in New Hampshire on February 1st. A candidate needs 1,034 delegates to win the Republican nomination at the convention next August.
Mr McCain tried to play down his three defeats this week which followed on his wins in Michigan and Arizona last week. Campaigning in California as the results came in, Mr McCain insisted that he would win the 162 delegates at stake in the primary there. "One week from this evening we're going to be celebrating one of the greatest wins in American political history," he said.
Mr McCain's strong attacks on the leaders of the religious right, the Rev Pat Robertson and the Rev Jerry Falwell, in their home state of Virginia are aimed at attracting voters in the more liberal states of California and New York.
Some observers now believe that Mr McCain may have overplayed the religious card and that there could be a backlash against it even in states with big Catholic populations such as New York. Mr Bush has apologised to Cardinal O'Connor of New York for speaking at Bob Jones University in South Carolina without criticising its anti-Catholic views and ban on inter-racial dating.