McCain defeats Obama in Republican Texas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John McCain defeated Democratic rival Barack Obama on Tuesday in presidential voting in Texas, holding on to President George W. Bush's Republican home state with its big cache of electoral votes, CBS projected.

McCain's Texas victory was no surprise. He had a double-digit lead over Obama in pre-election opinion polls, and no Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976 has carried the state.

The win gave McCain 34 Texas electoral votes, a big boost toward the 270 needed to win the presidency in the United States' indirect election system.