Official SC Republican Primary Results Thread

[Verily]

CNN's exit poll:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#SCREP

Average the results for men and women, and McCain leads Huck by 3-4 points.

"Best Chance of Winning In November: THOMPSON : 88%..."



...this is a joke right...?

That section means that 88% of Thompson supporters think he has the best chance in the GE. Blind, possibly, but not absurd.

[Verily]

Thinking about it, a Huckabee victory might not actually be the best result for those who want to stop McCain. Huckabee winning means his supporters will stick with him, but Huckabee losing means at least some will defect to Romney, who has a much better chance at derailing McCain in states such as Illinois and California than Huckabee does.

[Verily]

So, how long will it take before we're likely to know the results?

I would say the final result will be obvious by 8 (EST), possibly before then.

[Verily]

Thinking about it, a Huckabee victory might not actually be the best result for those who want to stop McCain. Huckabee winning means his supporters will stick with him, but Huckabee losing means at least some will defect to Romney, who has a much better chance at derailing McCain in states such as Illinois and California than Huckabee does.

Huckabee supporters defecting to Romney.  I really doubt it, but ok.

According to the exit poll, Huckabee picked up quite a few conservative Protestants, non-evangelicals, who might otherwise prefer Romney (certainly to McCain) or Thompson (but he's dropping out).