John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary last night, seizing the upper hand in the Republican presidential race ahead of next week's coast-to-coast contests.
The Arizona senator narrowly beat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and boosting his chances ahead of next week's Super Tuesday where 24 states will cast their votes.
Reports indicate that former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani intends to drop out of the race and will endorse Mr McCain in California later today.
The victory was worth 57 Republican National Convention delegates for Mr McCain, a winner-take-all haul that catapulted him ahead of Mr Romney in that category.
"It shows one thing: I'm the conservative leader who can unite the party," Mr McCain told the Associated Press after easing past former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for his first-ever triumph in a primary open only to Republicans.
"We have a ways to go, but we're getting close" to the nomination, he said later in an appearance before cheering supporters.
Mr Romney, who has spent millions of dollars of his personal fortune to run for the White House, vowed to stay in the race.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee ran fourth in the primary but told supporters he would campaign on. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was fifth, and last.
Florida marked the end of one phase of the campaign, the last in a series of single-state contests that winnowed a once unwieldy field.
The race goes national next week - Mr McCain said it would be the closest thing to a nationwide primary as any event in history. Twenty-one states hold Republican primaries and caucuses on Tuesday with 1,023 convention delegates at stake.
Returns from 81 per cent of Florida's precincts showed Mr McCain, the Arizona senator, with 36 per cent of the vote and Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, with 31 per cent.