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McCain wins South Carolina
By DAVID ESPO
The Associated Press

Sen. John McCain won a hard-fought South Carolina primary Saturday night, avenging a bitter personal defeat in a bastion of conservatism and gaining ground in an unpredictable race for the Republican presidential nomination.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” McCain told The Associated Press in an interview. He quickly predicted that his victory in the first southern primary would help him next week when Florida votes, and again on Feb. 5 when more than two dozen states hold primaries and caucuses.

McCain defeated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in a close race in the state that snuffed out his presidential hopes eight years ago. The Arizonan was gaining 33 percent of the vote to just under 30 percent for his closest rival.

“It just took us a while. That’s all. Eight years is not a long time,” McCain told the AP.

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was in a struggle for third place with about 16 percent, after saying he needed a strong showing to sustain his candidacy. Another Republican, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, dropped out even before the votes were tallied.

Interviews with South Carolina voters leaving their polling places indicated that McCain, an Arizona senator, and Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, were dividing the Republican vote evenly. As was his custom, McCain was winning the votes of self-described independents.

South Carolina was the second half of a campaign double-header for Republicans.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney cruised to victory earlier in the day in the little-contested Nevada caucuses.

No matter the state, the economy was the top issue in all three races on the ballot.