Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008

Arizona senator's push pays off

McCain prevails in S.C., beats Huckabee

U.S. Sen. McCain confidently strode onto the stage in Charleston Saturday night as the crowd chanted, “Mac is back!”

South Carolina may have dashed his presidential hopes in 2000, but this time, the Arizona maverick successfully edged out a jumbled field of competitors in the first-in-the South primary.

“It took us a while, but what’s eight years among friends?” McCain told the cheering crowd at The Citadel. “It just gave us the opportunity to spend more time in this beautiful state, to talk with you and listen to you, and to come to admire all the more the deep patriotism of South Carolinians, who have sacrificed so much to defend our country from its enemies.”

Exit polling showed that veterans, independents and older voters powered McCain past former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Polling showed the two men in a statistical tie leading up to Saturday’s primary.

At Columbia’s convention center Saturday evening, Huckabee graciously conceded the race.

“We got awful close,” he told a crowd holding “I like Mike” signs. “Unfortunately, close doesn’t count in the first lot.”

But Huckabee, who thanked McCain for running “a civil and a good and a decent campaign” remained hopeful about going forward.

On Feb. 5, known as Super Tuesday, voters in more than 20 states will cast ballots.

“The process is far, far from over,” said Huckabee, who did well with South Carolina’s evangelical Christians and those who said illegal immigration was their top issue.

Meanwhile, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who had staked his presidential hopes on a strong showing in South Carolina, kept a low profile Saturday, appearing briefly at a gun and knife show and a Lizard’s Thicket restaurant in Columbia.

Campaign staffers had lowered expectations earlier in the week, saying a third-place finish might be good enough to go forward.

Some expected Thompson, who came in third, to pull out of the race Saturday night. He thanked supporters around 8 p.m. at USC but did not drop out.

“It’s never been about me,” Thompson said. “It’s never even been about you. It’s about our country. Our party is having to look itself in the mirror.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the one candidate conspicuously absent from the state, opting to campaign instead in Nevada, where he won the GOP caucuses.

In a statement his campaign released Saturday, Romney sounded confident even though he finished fourth in South Carolina.

“With a career spent turning around businesses, creating jobs and imposing fiscal discipline, I am ready to get my hands on Washington and turn it inside out,” Romney said.

Staff writers Noelle Phillips, Jeff Wilkinson and Adam Beam contributed to this report. Reach Smith at (803) 771-8658.