McCain Defeats Huckabee, Rest of Pack in South Carolina Republican Primary
John McCain took the early lead in the South Carolina primary Saturday, and never lost it.
With 91 percent of precincts reporting, McCain had 33 percent and Mike Huckabee, 30 percent. Fred Thompson had 16 percent, Mitt Romney had 15 percent. Ron Paul was polling at 4 percent and Rudy Giuliani at 2 percent. Duncan Hunter, fairing poorly in both Nevada and South Carolina on Saturday, was returning to San Diego and planned to drop out, FOX News learned.
A win for McCain could be a big boost going into the Florida primary Jan. 29 and Super Tuesday Feb. 5, when 24 states hold a variety of primaries and caucuses for both parties. There has been no breakaway front-runner in the GOP race — Huckabee won the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, while McCain won the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary. Romney won lower profile contests in Wyoming, Michigan and Nevada, but leads the delegate count.
Partying at McCain headquarters, his supporters said they waited eight years for the victory. McCain lost a head-to-head match against George W. Bush in the state in 2000. Many of his backers also said the September report on Iraq by Gen. David Petraeus was the beginning of a turnaround they expect to take to the Republican National Convention.
Around 10 p.m. ET, Huckabee told supporters he had made the call to congratulate McCain
“I told him that I’d much rather have him call me tonight, but he was gracious just as we knew he would be,†Hucakbee said.
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