I know the weather was bad today in SC, but it should be noted that in 2000, while finishing 2nd, McCain won 237,888 votes in SC. As of the moment I'm writing this, with 93% in, he won 137,467 votes.

This is great news. McCain would be the best president of the Republicans. Clinton would be the best president of the Democrats. McCain would be the best candidate of the Republicans. Clinton would be the worst candidate of the Democrats.

About 65% of South Carolina Republicans rejected John McCain even though he's been around forever. McCain won for one reason: Fred Thompson. If Thompson had not played spoiler for his buddy Huckabee would have won going away

There were four major candidates with campaign organizations this time. In 2000, there were two.

Still McCain fell from 42% in 2000 to 33% this year. I know there are more viable candidates but let's not act like McCain kicked everyone's ass all over the place. I don't think this is McCain's race to lose yet, I think that's wishful thinking on excelsior's part. Romney is still lurking although the 4th place finish here has to hurt. I also agree that if Thompson hadn't woken up, Huckabee probably would have won. I think this is most likely the end of the line for Huckabee.

Well Mitt was the only one to be competitive everywhere so you can't blame him for deciding to skip SC. He will win in Florida. Mark my words... My ratings are beginning to rise drastically. BEWARE!

As a staunch McCainiac, I can't see how anyone can spin this as anything other than a big McCain win. EVERYBODY else lost. Huckabee wanted to come in first, Thompson wanted to come in second, Romney wanted to come in third, and Giuliani wanted to come in fifth. Of course McCain got a lower percent of the vote. He ran against three people: a Baptist minister, Uncle Moneybags, and a guy who based his entire campaign around South Carolina. If nothing else, remember that since 1980 whoever wins the South Carolina Republican Primary wins the Republican nomination.

I thought everyone wanted to come first :-) It's definitely a nice win for McCain, no question about it, and I do think that it gets that much closer to the nomination, but this thing is still at least a few weeks from being decided IMHO.

I don't think Romney coming in 4th hurt him at all. Romney and McCain come out of today in strong positions. Giuliani and Huckabee desperately need wins in Florida and Thompson's campaign is over.

I think it must hurt a little bit. The fourth place finish here probably is muted somewhat by his win in Nevada. Still I don't think finishing behind Fred Thompson can be good for your campaign, even if Thompson is done. It could maybe possibly suggest trouble ahead for him in future primaries. I really don't think he wanted to finish fourth (which goes without saying, really). That said I still think he's got a pretty good shot at the nomination and I don't think that changed much today.

On a sidenote, Huckabee would have done himself some good by not campaigning at every event across the country with David Beasley. Beasley is very unpopular here, including among Republicans.

The fourth place finish here probably is muted somewhat by his win in Nevada. Please . . . the Nevada caucas was a joke. It was an uncontested race; only Romney and Paul(!) made any effort in the state. For Republicans, Nevada was about as important as Michigan was for the Democrats. Of course, the Hillary-loving media will no doubt exaggerate the importance of Nevada in an effort to diminish McCain's achievement in South Carolina. They are already doing it here in NYC, where the GOP Nevada results got first billing over the South Carolina results.

We knew the GOP Nevada results before we knew the GOP SC results. Maybe it got top billing because (oh I don't know) it was the first event of the day.

Or, God forbid, maybe South Carolina isn't better than Nevada. *GASP* I know...

Sen. John McCain won a narrow victory in South Carolina on Saturday, but the final results and the exit poll continue to show a very fractured Republican party without a single candidate who has emerged as a consensus choice. Once again the devil is in the details, and anyone who digs through the exit poll will find that the GOP race is still wide open. McCain won again, as he did in New Hampshire, on the basis of strong support from self-described moderates and liberals, and by attracting the votes of Independents. He won among primary voters who believe abortion should be legal, who believe that illegal immigrants should have a path to citizenship and who had a negative opinion of the Bush Administration. McCain and Huckabee each won about 30 percent of the GOP, with Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson drawing another 16 percent each. Huckabee easily won conservatives, evangelical Christians, and voters who favored deporting illegal aliens. Did McCain measurably improve on his 2000 showing in South Carolina? Not if you compare the 2000 and 2008 exit polls. In 2000, McCain won 29 percent of self-described conservatives. This time, he won just 26 percent. In 2000, he drew 26 percent of Republicans. This time he won 30 percent – an improvement but not a dramatic one. McCain won 48 percent of veterans in 2000 against George W. Bush but only 37 percent this time. If McCain didn’t increase his percentages, why did he win? McCain won because of the fractured GOP field. Huckabee, Thompson and Romney divided the GOP vote and conservatives, allowing McCain to win with only a third of the total primary vote. McCain’s formula for victory can work in states that allow Independents to vote, but it’s still unclear whether he can compete successfully in states with closed primaries, which includes a number of Super Tuesday states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Montana, New York, Oklahoma and West Virginia. McCain’s victory is disappointing news for Rudy Giuliani, who is waiting in Florida. Giuliani’s poll numbers have been slipping, and McCain’s momentum could make him appealing to some Florida Republicans who had been considering the former New York Mayor. Some observers surely will see McCain’s victory in South Carolina as fundamentally changing the GOP race. But the evidence is not there yet that that is the case. If you look deep, deep into the weeds, the Republicans are still in a very wide-open race. -- Stuart Rothenberg is the editor of the Rothenberg Political Report.

Huckabee is finished.

....and thank God for that, too.

Actually, I think the field is down to McCain, Romney, and Huckabee. Huckabee took a big blow, but he's still very much a factor.

I disagree. This was supposed to be a primary dominated by exactly the kind of evangelical voters Huckabee should be able to count on. If he can't win in South Carolina, where does he win next?

I agree though that Romney is still very much in it.

He can win in (I don't know) Iowa. If Huckabee and Thompson split the evangelical vote because Thompson made SC his firewall state, then Huckabee can win anywhere else in the South because he won't face a strong Thompson presence. In FL, Huckabee desperately needs a win while McCain just needs to knock out Giuliani so he can win NY and NJ on Super Tuesday.

Well if Huckabee desperately needs to win Florida, he's screwed sideways. Is he even polling in the top 3 there right now? And btw, I know Huckabee won Iowa, which is why I phrased my question the way I did, i.e. prospectively.

I know Huckabee won Iowa In case you didn't know, McCain won NH as did Hillary(!) and Romney won NV and McCain won SC and Hillary(!) won NV. I just want to make sure you're all caught up here. Also, how is one "screwed sideways?"

I'm not sure, exactly, but I'd imagine it involves some pretty fancy manuevering :-) Seriously, though, you've never heard that expression?

I have, but I never questioned it until just now. I'm in a contemplative mood at the moment, pondering life's mysteries...like, "screwed sideways? How does that work?"