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PrintJanuary 19, 2008
GOP Race in SC down to the wire
It's snowing all across the state in South Carolina today as Republican voters go to the polls and choose the man they wish to be the nominee of the party.
Polls are open 7-7 EDT and most of the last polling done shows a tight race between John McCain and Mike Huckabee:
The last round of polls showed McCain (Ariz.), with support from South Carolina's large veteran population, holding a narrow lead in the state that handed him the most painful defeat of his 2000 campaign.The weather will probably hurt McCain the most and Romney the least. It may be that the last few polls showing Huckabee puting some distance between himself and the rest of the field could mean a strong second place showing for the former Arkansas governor.
Huckabee is counting on strong turnout from a large bloc of Christian conservatives to help him overtake the senator in the first Southern primary of the year.
Former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney were in a race for third. Thompson badly needs a strong showing to keep his White House bid viable. Romney, who won the Michigan primary Tuesday, spent Friday in Nevada, where he is looking to win Saturday's GOP caucuses.
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) called the primary a genuine contest and said the substantial number of undecided voters reflects uncertainty and introspection among Republicans, who are still absorbing the losses of the 2006 midterm elections and are deeply disaffected about Washington
But that depends on how much support Fred Thompson can draw away from Huckabee. If Thompson is in the high teens or low twenties, McCain will probably win easily. But if Thompson is in the low to mid teens, Huckabee has a shot at overtaking McCain.
Either way it looks like McCain-Huckabee finishing one-two in South Carolina.
