FACTBOX: Profiles of presidential hopefuls

(Reuters) - The race for president narrowed to four main contenders on Thursday after Republican Mitt Romney dropped out of the race for his party's nomination. Following are brief profiles of the main candidates.

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 ended Super Tuesday voting in a virtual draw with rival Barack Obama. She won eight contests, including the biggest prize of the night -- California. Clinton goes into the next round with less money on hand than Obama for what looks to be a long battle for the nomination, prompting her to loan her campaign $5 million of her own money. 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. Despite opinion polls that had predicted a win for him in California, Obama 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 next series of elections in Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, Maine, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. 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, a position that was strengthened with Romney's withdrawal. The Republican race may be almost over unless McCain stumbles badly. McCain attended the U.S. Naval Academy and as a Navy pilot was shot down in 1967 over Vietnam, spending the next 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.

(Writing by Deborah Charles and Patricia Wilson, editing by David Alexander)

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