Drunkblogging South Carolina and Nevada
Vodkapundit's Stephen Green really wanted to provide coverage of today's results in South Carolina and Nevada from a Bloody Mary bar in Vegas. Fearing the bar bill, PJM had him cover the race and the punditocracy's reactions from his home -- martini in hand. UPDATE: 6:18 pm PST And then there were three. After tonight, Fred Thompson's campaign is over. (Reminder to self: Don't endorse candidates you like, you jinx.) And Mike Huckabee has peaked. As Bill Kristol said on Fox, if Huckabee can't get 50% of the South Carolina evangelical vote, then tonight is the highwater mark of his campaign. Which leaves the Republicans with McCain, Romney, and Giuliani. And if Giuliani doesn't win -- and win convincingly -- in Florida, then he's out, too. This is looking more and more like a two-man race. On the Democratic side, you ain't seen nothin' yet. If you think the Clinton Machine unloaded on Obama in Nevada, wait'll you see what they have in store for him in SC next week. More at the jump...
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Clinton doesn’t need SC, but if she can beat Obama there, he might be viewed as the Not Quite Candidate. And in that case, just go ahead to the coronation of Queen Hill in Denver. So, yeah, it’s gonna get nasty next week. Fun!
How’d the press do? I dunno — they were so absent that mostly I read the blogs and sometimes took the mute button off from CNN and Fox.
6:00 pm PST — Vodkapundit calls it for McCain
The prestigious VodkaPundit News Service is going to go ahead and call South Carolina for McCain. We do this based on some stuff we’ve seen and read, with a healthy dollop of gut feeling.
In other words, you can take that to the bank. And if the bank won’t take it, you’re on your own.
The race is on for third place, and Romney has got to be kicking himself for leaving early for Florida. Had he stuck around, Thompson almost certainly would have come in fourth place and been forced out. And Huckabee would have looked like a stronger opponent to Romney’s top rival, McCain. As it is, it’s looking like Romney is going to come in a (very, very close) fourth place, and McCain ought to win by an almost-comfy three or four points.
You read it here first, at 9:00 PM Eastern.
VodkaPundit News Service and Pajamas Media. “Fast. Not entirely unthorough. Frequently mostly correct.”
5:50 pm PST
On Fox, Bill Kristol thinks that Mitt Romney may have inadvertently helped McCain in SC. Romney took off for Florida a couple days ago, leaving nothing behind in SC except for some TV ads. Local voters noticed, and about 5% of them went elsewhere — presumably mostly to arch-rival McCain.
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2 Comments
AJK:Time for John Edwards—Mr. Hypocrite—-to go away and never come back.
Jan 19, 2008 - 1:53 pm huxley:As long as Edwards is comfortable with losing money, there’s nothing in it for him to bow out now.
If it comes to a close showdown between Hilary and Obama, Edwards gets to name his price and crown the nominee. If Hilary and Obama self-destruct in the mutual annihilation of identity politics, Edwards can be the last person standing.
Of course, being a spoiler helps the Republicans since it encourages Hillary and Obama to savage each other all the more, but that’s not Edwards’ lookout.
Jan 19, 2008 - 7:14 pm