McCain Wins South Carolina, Saturday's Delegate Race

Earlier this week, one of my friends in South Carolina talked to me about whether she should vote in the Republican primary or the Democratic one. She elected to vote this weekend for John McCain, and it looks like a lot of other independents joined her.

With almost all of the votes counted, McCain narrowly defeated fundamentalist Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, 33 to 30 percent. It is telling that in this first-in-the-deep-south primary, the religious conservative candidate finished second. It is also telling that about a third of the Republican party seems to resonate to Hucakabee's message. Is this the same group of people who support President Bush through thick-and-thin?

There were only 24 delegates at stake in South Carolina; the GOP had penalized the state for holding its primary before 5 February. South Carolina has about twice the population -- and thus twice the clout -- of Nevada which held caucuses (and took the same penalty) the same day.

McCain won the most delegates in Saturday's almost bi-coastal race; he won 19 in South Carolina and 4 in Nevada. Mitt Romney won 17 in Nevada, but leads in the overall delegate count, according to AP.

• Mitt Romney -- 59 delegates
• Mike Huckabee -- 40 delegates
• John McCain -- 36 delegates

A candidate needs 1,191 delegates to secure the Republican nomination; about half of the delegate total is up for grabs on 5 February, mega-Tuesday.

See How Does the South Carolina Primary Work? ... How Do Nevada Caucuses Work? ... State Politics At A Glance: South Carolina ... 2008 Election Central