Nobody put it away on Super Tuesday, but a slew of victories did leave Sen. John McCain as the clear Republican front-runner.

Amazingly, a virtual draw in the Democratic race did no such thing for either Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama.

McCain has more than a 300-delegate lead over his nearest rival, former Gov. Mitt Romney, but wasn’t able to capture enough delegates to place a definitive lock on the nomination.

“We had two front-runners who couldn’t put it away tonight,” said David Gergen, a former Bill Clinton advisor and CNN political analyst.

“A lot of people thought John McCain would be able to put it away Super Tuesday. He simply did not do that.”

For a rejuvenated John McCain, a win is a win.

Gergen added that while McCain “hasn’t made the sale,” he is still likely to win the nomination “because he can divide and conquer.”

On the Democratic side, some feel the Super Tuesday split - and the longer primary season that results - favors Barack Obama.

The anti-Rudy Giuliani, Obama tends to do better with increased exposure. More time to meet the electorate likely means more support.

While failing to win the biggest prizes of California and New York, Obama saw many positive trends in the Super Tuesday results, winning 13 states compared to Hillary’s eight (New Mexico is still counting).

Barack Obama also has a vast campaign war chest, having amassed more than $30 million in the month of January alone.

“On the Democratic side, my sense is we’re going into 2-3 weeks now which will favor Obama,” Gergen said. “There is a sense the longer this goes on, the more it favors the challenger, the more it favors Barack Obama.”