Republican Mitt Romney wins Michigan primary

Detroit: Republican Mitt Romney has won the Michigan primary. Romney halted his rival John McCain to stay in the race for the White House.

With Romney's win three different Republicans have won the first three significant contests - McCain, an Arizona senator, took New Hampshire last week and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses on January 3.

Romney got 39.4 per cent of the vote in Michigan, McCain came second with 30 per cent and Huckabee was third by 15.4 per cent.

Hillary Clinton had won last week's primaries in New Hampshire for the Democrats.

Hillary is the Democratic frontrunner with 45 per cent votes, while 33 per cent are supporting Obama.

On the Republican front, John McCain has jumped ahead with 33 per cent votes while Mike Huckabee is getting just 19 per cent.