South Carolina was John McCain’s biggest stumbling block eight years ago. Today, his win in the same state arguably puts him at the front of the pack.<\/p>\n
With just about every precinct reporting:<\/p>\n
1. John McCain — 33.2%
\n2. Mike Huckabee — 29.8%
\n3. Fred Thompson — 15.8%
\n4. Mitt Romney — 15.1%
\n5. Ron Paul — 3.7%
\n6. Rudy Giuliani — 2.07%
\n7. Duncan Hunter — 0.2%<\/p>\n
Here’s an interesting tidbit: in 2000, McCain had nearly 240,000 votes in a losing effort. Tonight, he won a competitive race, but garnered about 135,000 votes.<\/p>\n
As I’m usually inclined to do, let’s briefly go one at a time, taking a look at Spin vs. Reality for each of the Republican candidates.
\n
\nJohn McCain<\/b> — What McCain fans are saying: We got the win we needed to solidify us in front of the pack. What McCain critics are saying: Romney’s still leading in the delegate count.<\/p>\n
Who’s right? Time will tell. McCain needed South Carolina, and got the win he needed. One gets the sense that the field is about to narrow a bit, and if the anti-McCain vote can consolidate, things could get trickier for him.<\/p>\n
Mike Huckabee<\/b> — What Huckabee fans are saying: A close second should keep our guy in the game. What Huckabee critics are saying: Today was your chance for a breakthrough win, and it didn’t happen.<\/p>\n
Who’s right? I think critics are. Huckabee’s path to the nomination was always going to be tricky, but this setback in South Carolina makes matters even worse.<\/p>\n
Fred Thompson<\/b> — What Thompson fans are saying: Our best showing to date! What Thompson critics are saying: South Carolina was make or break, and now you’re broke.<\/p>\n
Who’s right? Critics are. Thompson conceded publicly that he was effectively putting it all on the line in South Carolina, and he didn’t come close. The next two questions are how soon he’ll drop out and who he’ll endorse.<\/p>\n
Mitt Romney<\/b> — What Romney fans are saying: We weren’t really trying in South Carolina anyway. What Romney critics are saying: Didn’t you have the lead in South Carolina as recently as December?<\/p>\n
Who’s right? Well, probably both. The bad news for Romney is that he would have much<\/i> preferred a Huckabee victory, slowing McCain down. That obviously didn’t happen.<\/p>\n
Ron Paul<\/b> — What Paul fans are saying (probably in all-caps): We kicked Giuliani’s butt again. What Paul critics are saying: Paul still isn’t going to win anywhere.<\/p>\n
Who’s right? Both are.<\/p>\n
Rudy Giuliani<\/b> — What Giuliani fans are saying: Florida, 9\/11, Florida, 9\/11. What Giuliani critics are saying: Yet another humiliating sixth place finish is a reminder of what a loser Giuliani is.<\/p>\n
Who’s right? I’m going with the critics.<\/p>\n
Duncan Hunter<\/b> — What Hunter fans are saying: (crickets chirping) What Hunter critics are saying: Duncan who?<\/p>\n
Who’s right? Critics. He actually kinda sorta tried to compete in South Carolina, and it didn’t much matter.<\/p>\n
Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Carolina was John McCain’s biggest stumbling block eight years ago. Today, his win in the same state arguably puts him at the front of the pack. With just about every precinct reporting: 1. John McCain — 33.2% 2. Mike Huckabee — 29.8% 3. Fred Thompson — 15.8% 4. Mitt Romney — 15.1% 5. Ron […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}