A blog for The Chronicle to cover the 2008 presidential election, of which Hofstra University plays a unique part as host of one of the presidential debates. Students will cover the election in real time.

January 19, 2008

McCain edges Huckabee in South Carolina


Sen. John McCain accepts victory in the South Carolina GOP primary. (Video provided by MSNBC.com)


By Kimberly Chin
Assistant News Editor

Uncertainty continues in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, as Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) wins the South Carolina primary with 33 percent of the vote to become the GOP victor in the first Southern primary, a state he lost when he was the object of aggressive negative campaigning in 2000 by then-Gov. George W. Bush's campaign.

He edged out Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), who received 30 percent of the vote, with 94 percent of precincts reporting, while Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.) and Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) raced for third place, Romney trailing behind Thompson by less than 1 percent.

“It took us a while, but what’s eight years among friends?” McCain said in his victory speech, referring to his unsuccessful campaign against President George Bush in 2000. Shouts of “Mac is back! Mac is back!” echoed among McCain's supporters.

Every GOP winner in the South Carolina primary has become the nominee since 1980. And no Republican has won the White House without South Carolina for decades.

McCain's support again came from Independents and some Republicans, but he lost overall registered Republicans to Huckabee. Huckabee's core constituency, evangelical Christians, split its vote between McCain, Huckabee and Thompson, according to exit polls.

McCain appealed to the voters who felt that the top campaign issue remains the war in Iraq, according to exit polls.

Huckabee had announced that he had called McCain personally to congratulate him and thanked him for a "civil and decent" campaign. "The path to the White House is not ending here tonight," Huckabee said in his concession speech. "Tomorrow we wake up to fight the battle yet again and yet again."

Thompson delivered a rambling speech to his supporters even before the votes were fully tallied. "It's never been about me. It's never even been about you. It's been about our country," Thompson told his supporters. Pundits on MSNBC were laughing as he finished, and anchor Keith Olbermann asked "What was that?" as they came back on the air.

Analysts believe he may drop out of the race in the coming days, because he had been banking on a strong showing in South Carolina, and he did not indicate meeting that threshold. CNN reported that two sources said Thompson may be hitting the end of his campaign, with aides saying it had become "abundantly evident to us all."

Romney's shifted his focus from South Carolina toward Nevada earlier in the campaign, amounting to a victory for him there.

McCain's victory carries momentum for his campaign into Florida, where the GOP holds its next primary on Jan. 29, and where McCain already has a slight lead, according to polls conducted in the state. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is banking on a Florida victory to carry his campaign into Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, but his precipitous decline in the polls may prevent it from happening.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) drops out

CNN Political Ticker reports Hunter abandoning his candidacy for President.

Clinton wins close Nevada contest, Romney coasts there

By Samuel Rubenfeld
News Editor

Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) won the hotly contested Nevada Democratic caucus for her second straight victory, while Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.) coasted to victory there in the Republican caucus in the first major contest in the West.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton captured 51 percent of the vote, with Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) receiving 45 percent and Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) placing a distant third, not even receiving four percent.

Nevada state Democratic party officials told the New York Times that they had a record turnout of more than 107,000 voters, making it the third straight state to host a record turnout of Democratic voters in the early primary season.

The powerful Culinary Union had endorsed Obama the day after the New Hampshire primary, and that was expected to deliver him a major constituency because of its deep organization and strength in Nevada.

Democratic voters poured into caucus sites around the state, including eight sites on the Las Vegas strip that were the source of major controversy between the Clinton and Obama campaigns: after the Culinary Union endorsement, elements connected to the Clinton campaign filed a lawsuit claiming caucus-goers at those sites had disproportionate power because they were able to caucus while at work, whereas other workers could not. The lawsuit failed, but Clinton won at least six of the sites anyway.

“Today we won a huge victory by overcoming institutional hurdles,” said a memo from the Clinton campaign hours after the caucuses closed. “This was a victory for all those who work hard and caucused on behalf of Hillary to revive our struggling economy.”

Clinton had accused surrogates of the Obama campaign of intimidating caucus-goers to vote for him in the late hours of the Nevada contest, but she showed no concrete evidence of such intimidation, citing “anecdotes” from her supporters.

Exit polls indicated a nearly 3-1 margin of victory for Clinton by Hispanic voters. A majority of women voters supported Clinton, according to exit polls.

The same exit polls indicated a 5-1 margin of victory amongst black voters for Obama.

NBC News called Romney’s victory by 1 p.m., immediately upon the closing of the GOP caucuses. Half of his voters were Mormon, according to exit polls.

Romney was the only Republican candidate to seriously campaign in Nevada, with most of the others concerning themselves with the South Carolina GOP primary occurring the same day. Turnout there was expected to be impacted by the weather, which forecasted for snow in many parts of the state.

With 97 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Romney won with 51 percent of the vote, followed by Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), each with 13 percent, but Paul edged McCain by about 200 votes.

UPDATE: Victory for Clinton is not so settled after all. The Obama campaign put out a statement saying despite losing the caucus by percentage, it won the battle over delegates, 13 to 12, and that the Clinton campaign engaged in voter intimidation. Clinton's campaign responded saying he was wrong, that they won 13 to 12. Further muddling the picture is the state Democratic chairman, who said he cannot verify the vote count, because he is assuming the delegates are going to stay committed to their candidate until the official tally is taken in late April.

Stay tuned, because this can get very, very ugly.

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