Thompson and Huckabee are no longer viable after tonight's results. It would seem a majority of these candidates' supporters will eventually adopt Mitt Romney rather than McCain. In fact, McCain's victory tonight will likely spawn even more fervent criticism from the conservative media. I think the ultimate winner from all this is Romney. He will likely emerge as the Republican nominee.

Florida is NOT like South Carolina!

Well, if it were a really true and fair process then OBAMA has a very good chance in California.. But being that We are dealing with Clintonesque intimidation, smears and voter suppression it will be a tough proposition.

With each primary, the contest is making the NEXT week's primary ever more important.

Thompson may as well pack it in now, and wonder how things might have been different had he entered the race in May, when he was all the buzz in GOP circles and could have quickly raised millions.

Huckabee is damaged by this loss. He wasn't really pulling in the real money anyway, and this doesn't help. He won the "evangelical" vote with 41%, but was FOURTH in the "non-evangelical" vote. That means he has few other places where he can compete going forward. He needs to pull an upset win in Florida to continue as a serious contender. That state is basically a four-way tie in polls, but McCain and Romney will each get a little bounce from their wins today. But it's possible, still.

Florida is do-or-die for Giuliani now. Had Huckabee or Thompson taken SC, Rudy may have been able to survive a close second in the Sunshine State, but it's a different ballgame with Romney and McCain each coming in with multiple wins. There may be only two tickets out, and Romney already has one punched.

Same for McCain, although he may be slightly better positioned politically with a second in Florida. He still has money problems, just as Giuliani does, so some more positive coverage will be needed to reload the coffers in time to run ads for the following Super Tuesday primaries.

I can't believe McCain won SC. I just simply can't believe it. Everyone in that state was outraged with him and Lindsey Graham after the amnesty debacle. Seriously? McCain won that state?

McCain and Huckabee are the two worst candidates the GOP have put up there. I'd rather see Ron Paul as our nominee than McCain and the Huckster. And i can't stand Ron Paul...

Dave,
I can believe a McCain win in SC. The conversative vote is split between three candidates: Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson. I agree with Alan that going forward, most of the Huckabee/Thompson voters will probably migrate towards Romney.

Thompson's campaign is beyond over and done.

Same for Giuliani and Edwards.

And btw, Thompson is tanking because Reaganism has run it's course -- we can see it's a dead end.

It's time to --------------------> move on.

It's time to --------------------> move on.
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To what? Liberal agenda of "killing babies, not terrorists" big government?

Yo, Adrian:

Reaganism has certainly not run its course. If this nation is unfortunate enough to endure four years of Hillary in the White House, you will see true Reagan conservatism come roaring back. But now, most Republicans are very complacent and that is why we are left with a contest between an unashamed liberal candidate and a liberal convert. Give this nation four years of socialism and you'll see Reagan's spirit incarnated in 2012.

To what? Liberal agenda of ... big government?

LOL! Have you been asleep for the last 6 years?

I know, I know... Brian... spin... liberal... liars... spin... agenda... corrupt... spin. There, I saved you the trouble.

Dave W - "I can't believe McCain won SC. I just simply can't believe it. Everyone in that state was outraged with him and Lindsey Graham after the amnesty debacle. Seriously? McCain won that state?

That may be true, they may not be happy with the shamesty bill.

However when you view the alternatives, with the exception of Romney, there are none. And I bet if McCain pulls the nomination out those that claim they would never vote for him will because he would be facing Shillary or Obama-wamma-slamma.

Really, anyone who stays home because of McCain's presence is doing nothing but ceding the election to the Dems.

NOT a good thing.

Jayson,

Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't Florida a closed primary?

If Florida is Republican only, then how can you say SC and Florida are "quite alike"?

From what ive seen, McCain won SC with Independents and Democrats voting for him. Not sure he can get those votes in Florida.

Hmmm... democrats voting for McCain... They'll do that now, but if he's the nominee in Nov, will they vote for him then? Why would they do that?

Who needs a democrat in republican clothing when they can vote for either Democrat Move-On wet dreams: Barrack or Clinton (or some sort of shared ticket between the 2).

I'm no Huckabee supporter either, but why is he dead when he got 30% to McCain's 33%? If anything, doesn't that show he's got a little more staying power?

I don't think I'm subscribing to the analysis offered in most of this post or the comments.

At least we don't have to choose between an unprincipled, power-mad candidate (Hillary) and a know-nothing pretty face (Obama, Edwards).

In this light, we have real choices and adults to choose from. No crying, hair-teasing please.

It's true that Reaganism is in somewhat of a slumber mode, but it's not dead. Just resting. When will it wake? Maybe not until we get to the point that gov't starts really crowding us again.

I hope it doesn't take another terrorist attack and/or economic disaster a la Carter years to waken Reaganism, which is really "Americanism," of low taxes, individual liberty and initiative, restrained central government.

Alright Mitchell

Waddaya mean calling Obama a "know-nothing pretty face"!

Obama is the one that can bring change! I agree with you on that "unprincipled, power-mad Hillary"! Wait--oh God, I'm agreeing with Mitchell! Eww (Wink)

And btw, Thompson is tanking because Reaganism has run it's course -- we can see it's a dead end.

And move on to what? A nanny-state? I'm sorry not interested in being told what I can and cannot eat (Bloomberg) or what I can say in the political realm (McCain).

I think everything Jonah Goldberg has written in Liberal Fascism is dead on this days now.

Well, iF McInane happens to be the nominee? I guess I'd vote for..... Michael Savage.. that would be a vote against the incrowd Washington too long lobbyist backed liberals like Clinton,McCain..

Term limits for senators are way overdue.. why dont You write a bill in support of term limits McPain? instead of one restricting free speech and trying to sneak thru amnesty You fraud.

The statement "Huge win for McCain" would appear to be a gross overstatement. If you look at the actual figures and compare them to the 2000 race, McCain's showing this time around you will note that McCain did far worst then he did in 2000. I did get the figures from www.gaypatriot.org If you go to that site you will see the numbers for both 2000 and 2008. Oh by way, there are a hell of a lot of gay conservatives out here. Some of them even make members of this blog look like left wingers.

Didn't Obama win more Nevada delegates though? I thought I read that on Newsbusters

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/01/19/obama-wins-more-delegates-nv-hillary-will-media-notice

With McCain, his choice of vp is important because with his old age, and health issues, his chances of being alive in four years are poor.

So a general election matchup between Billary and McCain? Can't see a spit of difference between the two, but either way it does mean the 42,750 registered lobbyists in Washington will retain their complete control of the government. But given some of the stupid ideas politicians are capable of that may be a good thing for America.

Fred Thompson being "done" and "over" means Conservatives have NO candidate in November. Hillary or Obama can start measuring for the drapes, because the Republican party is "over" and "done." Reference 1976. Run a liberal RINO like Rudy McRombee against a Democrat and see who wins.

LOL! Have you been asleep for the last 6 years?

I know, I know... Brian... spin... liberal... liars... spin... agenda... corrupt... spin. There, I saved you the trouble.
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Thanks for admitting it. I am shameless, I would do what you have done here.

Bobby Jinda looks like a Reaganite conservative and he won decisively in Louisana. It is given that the liberals hated Bush because their agenda is "killing babies, not terrorists". At least Bush is trying to "kill terrorists, not babies". His low poll numbers is due to his departure from the small gov of Reaganism.

It is funny that both Hillary and Obama tried to invoke Reagan. The simple reason is that they can' be honest about their liberal agenda of "kill babies, save terrorists, big gov" as opposed to the conservative agenda of "save babies, kill terrorists, small gov".