FACTBOX: Profiles of presidential hopefuls

(Reuters) - The race for president still has five major contenders after "Super Tuesday," when nearly half of the states chose Republican and Democratic candidates for the November election. Following are brief profiles.

DEMOCRATS:

HILLARY CLINTON, 60, has nationwide name recognition as the wife of former President Bill Clinton. A senator from New York who would be the first woman president, Clinton did not expect to clinch the nomination by the end of voting on Super Tuesday. She won eight contests, including the biggest prize of the night -- California. Clinton goes into the next round with less money on hand than rival Barack Obama to wage a long campaign. Clinton emphasizes efforts to insure 47 million Americans without health coverage and has criticized Obama for not having enough experience. Her once strong lead in national opinion polls has narrowed.

BARACK OBAMA, 46, came into Super Tuesday with momentum after a lopsided victory in South Carolina. Opinion polls showed him with a surprising lead in California, but they were wrong and he lost the state to Clinton. But he won 13 others, including his native Illinois, Georgia and Missouri. Obama, who would be the first black president, is likely to have an edge in the southern state of Louisiana which votes on February 9. The Illinois senator first gained national recognition when he gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention before he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He opposed the Iraq war from the beginning and portrays himself as a Washington outsider. Obama has been seeking to cast himself as the best candidate to take on Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner.

REPUBLICANS:

MIKE HUCKABEE, 52, had a surprising "Super Tuesday," winning five states, including his native Arkansas, West Virginia and three others in the South where he drew strong support from evangelical Christians. A Baptist minister and bass guitar-playing former Arkansas governor, Huckabee won the first contest in Iowa but quickly faded. He has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate. Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas -- the birthplace of former Democratic President Clinton. Huckabee won Iowa thanks to strong support from fellow evangelicals, who admire his religious beliefs and conservative stances on social issues like abortion and gay marriage. "We're still in this," he said after Super Tuesday's results.

JOHN MCCAIN, 71, a senator from Arizona, took command of the Republican race, winning nine states on Tuesday, including California, the bellwether state of Missouri, New Jersey and New York. He immediately declared himself the front-runner. The Republican race may be almost over unless McCain stumbles badly after a disappointing night for his rival Mitt Romney. McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy and was shot down in 1967 over Vietnam, where he spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. McCain, who turns 72 in August, would be the oldest first-term president. He has been a pro-business conservative and abortion foe, while supporting the Iraq war and calling for extra troops to quell the violence. His campaign was low on cash and hit by defections last summer but he rebounded.

MITT ROMNEY, 60, may have been the biggest loser on "Super Tuesday" after sinking millions of dollars of his personal fortune into the race. He won six states, none of which come with a huge number of the delegates he needs to be selected as the nominee at the Republican convention in September. The former Massachusetts governor won his native state and Utah, where his Mormon religion is based. The Harvard-educated former business executive co-founded the private equity firm Bain Capital and has portrayed himself as more of an economics expert than McCain. Romney has appealed to conservatives with his opposition to gay rights and abortion rights, which he once supported. Romney, whose father was once Michigan governor and an auto executive who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1968, would be the first Mormon president.

(Writing by Patricia Wilson; Editing by Howard Goller)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)