Will the polls closed in South Carolina, Sen. John McCain and former Gov. Mike Huckabee are locked in tight battle for first place in the state’s GOP primary, with former Gov. Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson battling it out for third.
With the GOP nomination still up for grabs, a win in South Carolina will boost the bid of McCain or Huckabee with little more than two weeks left before the Florida primary on Jan. 29 — where former Mayor Rudy Giuliani looks strong — and the multistate Super Tuesday votes Feb. 5.
A large turnout by conservatives and evangelicals has buoyed the chances of Huckabee, according to preliminary exit poll results, while support from veterans, who account for a quarter of the electorate in S.C., as well as independents and moderates have boosted McCain’s chances.
Looks like McCain won
mac comes back
McCain wins and Huckabee is probably finished even if he will continue to campaign for a while. If he couldn’t win in SC I don’t see him winning anywhere else except possibly ARK. FL is must win for Rudy or he is done (personally I think thats a long shot). My guess is that its between Romney and McCain now.
The commentaries on CNN have pointed out that after tonight Thompson is likely out, and may of his votes could go to Huckabee.
Hucka-bee is not Hucka-was, at least not yet.
It’s not clear to me why Thompson voters would shift to Huckabee, unless they never understood what Thompson’s message was. Thompson is a pro-life conservative; Huckabee, a pro-life big government populist.