Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain scored key wins in the presidential contests in the US states of Nevada and South Carolina, CNN reported.

McCain edged out former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to seal a crucial win Saturday.

"The path to the White House is not ending here tonight," Huckabee said after the results came in.

"Tomorrow we wake up to fight the battle yet again and yet again."

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was in third, followed by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

South Carolina's Democratic primary is next Saturday.

South Carolina is seen as significant because, since 1980, every Republican candidate who has won in South Carolina has gone on to win the party's nomination.

The Republican results came in just hours after Nevada held its caucuses, where Sen. Hillary Clinton scored a victory on the Democratic side, and among Republicans, Romney was the winner.

Clinton led rival Barack Obama by 6 percentage points with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

Although Clinton won the overall state vote, Obama took more delegates because of the areas where he won. CNN projects that Obama will pick up 13 delegates to Clinton's 12.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was a distant third.

Rep. Ron Paul edged out McCain to take second place among Republicans, ahead of Thompson and Huckabee.

California Rep. Duncan Hunter, who received just 2 percent of the GOP vote, abandoned his presidential bid after the results came in.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had poor showings in both Nevada and South Carolina, largely skipped the early voting states to focus on Florida and the delegate-rich states competing in the Super Tuesday contests on February 5.

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