RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
Mitt Romney was the big winner of yesterday's Michigan Republican presidential primary. The victory boosts his struggling campaign. Romney's campaign had suffered two disappointing defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire. Now he's back. The Republican field is wide open. Michigan is a state suffering from massive job losses and the nation's highest unemployment rate. Romney won in part by pledging to help the domestic automobile industry regain its past glory. Senator John McCain, the New Hampshire winner, finished second. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who took Iowa, ran third.
NPR's Don Gonyea reports from Detroit.
DON GONYEA: It is no understatement to say that Mitt Romney absolutely needed a win in Michigan. This is, after all, a state where he has deep ties. He was born here. His dad was a top auto industry executive who served six years as governor. And Romney had prominent political backing and a solid organization in the state. A loss here would have raised serious questions. So when he bounded onto the stage in a victory party in the Detroit suburb of Southfield last night, his usually perfect hair just a bit mussed, the candidates seemed as relieved as he was happy.
Mr. MITT ROMNEY (Former Republican Governor, Michigan; Presidential Candidate): Tonight marks the beginning of a comeback, a comeback for America.
(Soundbite of cheering)
GONYEA: In Michigan, Romney was relentlessly upbeat, not only about his candidacy, but about the prospects for a domestic auto industry that has been losing market share and slashing both blue and white collar jobs. He said lost jobs are not gone forever.
Mr. ROMNEY: You said we would fight for every job. You said that we would fight to get health care for all Americans. You said we'd fight to secure our border. You said you'd fight for us to be able to get lower taxes for middle income Americans, and Michigan heard and Michigan voted tonight. Congratulations.
(Soundbite of cheering)
GONYEA: At a polling place in an elementary school in the Detroit suburb of Canton, 61-year-old Dolores Wells(ph) said she voted for Romney because of his business background. But she also said she likes his personal connection to the state.
Ms. DOLORES WELLS: And I did meet his father once so - and I thought he was very nice way back then even. But I like that he is from Michigan. And it'd be nice of he really does something for Michigan.
GONYEA: But Wells also expressed doubts that Romney or any other candidate really has the answers Michigan's economy needs.
Ms. WELLS: I think right now it's all - they're saying what people want to hear. You know, I - whatever you want to hear is what they're going to say.
GONYEA: Romney pulled in 39 percent of the vote with John McCain in second place with 30 percent. Mike Huckabee rounded out the top three with 16 percent. This was John McCain's second time running in Michigan. In 2000, he defeated George W. Bush in the primary here, thanks to a large number of Democrats and independents who voted in the Republican primary. This time, according to exit polls, there were far fewer of the crossover votes McCain needed if he hoped to win.
Over the past week, McCain had blunt talk about Michigan's economy. He said lost manufacturing jobs - 200,000 gone in the last eight years - likely won't be coming back. Instead he called for retraining and education for laid-off workers. Romney attacked him as being a pessimist. But last night McCain sounded optimistic.
Senator JOHN McCAIN (Republican, Arizona; Presidential Candidate): My friends, we fell a little short tonight. But we have no cause to be discouraged or to second guess what we might have done differently. We did what we always do. We went to Michigan and we told people the truth. We always tell them the truth.
(Soundbite of cheering)
GONYEA: McCain spoke in Charleston, South Carolina, where the first big southern primary takes place on Saturday. Mike Huckabee also delivered his Michigan concession speech in the Palmetto State while supporters in Columbia cheered. Huckabee tallied the GOP scorecard so far.
Mr. MIKE HUCKABEE (Former Republican Governor, Arkansas; Presidential Candidate): So it looks like that I won Iowa, John McCain won New Hampshire, Mitt Romney won Michigan. Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to win South Carolina.
(Soundbite of cheering)
GONYEA: In Michigan, all of the reelection was on the Republican side. As for the Democrats, a dispute between the national and state parties over the decision to hold the primary so early on the calendar resulted in only a partial slate of Democratic candidates. The national party stripped Michigan of its delegates and told the candidates not to campaign here. Both Barack Obama and John Edwards withdrew their names from the ballot; not so with Hillary Clinton. That enabled her to win 55 percent of the vote, with 40 percent, presumably Obama and Edwards supporters, voting uncommitted.
Don Gonyea, NPR News, Detroit.