John McCain appears to have won the Louisiana GOP caucuses, which were held Tuesday to select delegates to the state convention.

Louisiana's primary is Feb. 9, but more than 10,000 Republican voters in the state attended the caucuses Tuesday to select delegates to the state convention, which is held to elect nearly all the state's delegates to the national convention, being held this year in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Preliminary results showed McCain won more of the 105 state convention delegates than any other candidate -- most of the elected delegates actually ran on a statewide "pro-life uncommitted slate," according to the state GOP, but McCain claimed the most delegates for a named candidate.

The Louisiana GOP did not release final numbers, but reported that Texas Rep. Ron Paul came in second and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in third.

The Arizona senator's camp claimed victory as a sign of his growing momentum following his win in South Carolina Saturday.

"Last night's results go to show that John McCain is the best hope of conservatives here in Louisiana and across the country ... John McCain is quickly emerging as the consensus candidate in the Republican race and the only conservative who can win this November," said McCain's Louisiana chairman, former Gov. Buddy Roemer.

The results are preliminary because about 500 caucus-goers not initially shown to be registered Republicans were issued provisional ballots. Once their eligibility is confirmed, their votes will be added to the final tally. Also, some delegate candidates ran on more than one slate, making it difficult to determine the final numbers.