The big winner on Tuesday night wasn’t revived Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or Republican frontrunner John McCain. It was CNN.

The cable news network drew huge viewership for its coverage of the crucial primary contests in Ohio and Texas, matching its record Super Tuesday totals on what was a strong night for all three cable news networks.

CNN led in primetime among both total viewers and the key adults 25-54 news demographic, averaging 3.69 million total viewers and 1.59 million 25-54s. Fox News Channel was second with 2.98 million total viewers and third in 25-54s with 830,000. MSNBC averaged 2.04 million total viewers and 876,000 in the demo, just edging FNC.

CNN peaked with 4.42 million total viewers in the 9 p.m. hour, bettering the CW’s “One Tree Hill” 2.93 million viewers in the timeslot and only 320,000 behind ABC’s comedies.

But perhaps most surprising is that CNN and MSNBC matched their Super Tuesday totals among total viewers. Fox News was a bit behind the 3.5 million who tuned in last month.

CNN’s most-watched hour of the night, 9 p.m., outdrew its top hour on Super Tuesday by some 500,000 viewers. MSNBC matched its best hour with 2.3 million tuning in at 9 p.m.

In the run-up to the most recent primaries, media people had expected this round on cable news to post somewhat lower ratings, perhaps 80 percent of what they drew on Super Tuesday, according to predictions earlier in the week in Media Life.

The reason may be that Tuesday night’s results were perhaps even more crucial than Super Tuesday to both Democratic and Republican candidates. McCain’s big victories prompted his final major competitor, Mike Huckabee, to drop out of the race. All three networks carried his exit speech.

Meanwhile, Clinton pulled off two unexpected wins in Ohio and Texas on a night some expected her to be the one dropping out, following a string of 11 consecutive primary wins by rival Barack Obama.

The continuation of the Democratic contest, with the next primary in Pennsylvania some six weeks away, should lead to a continued ratings surge for the cable networks.

CNN in February pulled in 883,000 more viewers in primetime than it had in February 2007, with its audience jumping 113 percent. MSNBC had nearly 300,000 more viewers, up 62 percent, and Fox News pulled in 259,000 additional viewers, up 16 percent.