Huckabee wins Louisiana Republican presidential vote

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Louisiana Republican primary on Saturday, notching up another Southern victory in his bid to become the party's presidential candidate in the November general election, CNN projected early Sunday.

Front-running Arizona Sen. John McCain leads the race for the Republican nomination and is almost certain to win after his chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, dropped out on Thursday.

Huckabee is his chief remaining challenger and is running a distant second. The Baptist minister, whose appeal to social conservatives has kept his shoestring campaign alive, won four Southern states and West Virginia on Tuesday, when nearly half of U.S. states chose candidates for the November election.