California LOS ANGELES — California's high-stakes gubernatorial primary remained too close to call late Tuesday, with early returns showing Republican Steve Hilton and Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer emerging at the top of a fragmented field of 61 candidates.

With hundreds of thousands of mail ballots still uncounted, election officials cautioned that final results determining the top two finishers who advance to the November general election could take days or weeks. The outcome will shape the contest to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in the nation's most populous state.

Early tallies placed Hilton, a former Fox News host and adviser to Britain's David Cameron, Becerra, the former U.S. health secretary and California attorney general, and Steyer, the billionaire climate activist, in the leading positions. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa conceded shortly after polls closed, acknowledging they would not advance.

The race defied easy predictions in a state where Democrats hold a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration advantage. California's "jungle primary" system, which sends the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party, fueled anxiety among Democrats that vote-splitting could allow two Republicans to advance for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election in 2006.

Many Democratic voters deliberately held mail ballots until Election Day to react to late developments, further slowing the count in a state that emphasizes meticulous verification.

Becerra and Hilton expressed confidence in advancing, while Steyer vowed to remain competitive.

"It might take some time to figure out where this is going. We're going to wait until every ballot is counted. We're going to give democracy time to work," Steyer told supporters in San Francisco on Tuesday night.

The contest to lead a state whose economy would rank as one........

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