The polls just closed in South Carolina and its too close to call.
FOX News has – McCain at 38%, Huckabee at 23%. They showed Mitt Romney with 19 percent, Fred Thompson with 12 percent, Rudy Giuliani with 5 percent and Ron Paul with 4 percent.
** Fred Thompson is now speaking in South Carolina.
Captain’s Quarters asks, “Has the Thompson Surge Arrived?”
…According to FOX News reporter Molly Henneberg at Fred HQ- “No.”
Powerline has the numbers from the exit polls in South Carolina where McCain and Huckabee are battling for the win.
FOX News reporter Molly Henneberg says the mood at the Thompson room was “like a funeral.” She said that Thompson will go visit his mother in a Tennessee hospital tomorrow and then decide his next moves?
Here’s the video from the Thompson Headquarters:
This won’t be good news for Fred Heads.
Martha Maccallum from FOX News has blog coverage– at least she’s mentioning a couple of blogs by name tonight (RedState).
Glenn Reynolds reports that Duncan Hunter is quitting!
Stephen Green is live-blogging at Pajamas Media.
UPDATE: FOX News is reporting that Senator John McCain has won the South Carolina Republican Primary.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
Sean Hannity: (To Senator McCain) Do you think your willingness to change your position towards securing the border first helped a lot?
John McCain: Actually, I didn’t change my position…
Still for amnesty?
**HotAir posted the video.
That clip won’t calm conservatives any tonight.
Senator McCain’s line about lowering taxes during his victory speech was a bit confusing, too– considering he did not vote for the Bush tax cuts.
Update 2: (9:43 PM CST) With 93 percent of precincts reporting, McCain had 33 percent and Mike Huckabee, 30 percent. Fred Thompson had 16 percent, Mitt Romney had 15 percent. Ron Paul was polling at 4 percent and Rudy Giuliani at 2 percent.
UPDATE 3: Via MediaBistro and HotAir, MSNBC announcers Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews laugh at Fred Thompson and then grill Mitt Romney on his Mormon faith and then grill him for wearing his collar open and shirt sleeves rolled up… AMAZING!
That’s a reason why trust in the media plummetted to 19.6% in a recent poll.
UPDATE 4: The Corner– Among Non-Evangelicals [Rich Lowry] Huckabee finished fourth, with just 12% according to CNN exits.
Senator John McCain with Senator Lindsey “We’re Going to Tell the Bigots to Shut Up” Graham greets the crowd after his win tonight.
US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)(L) and Cindy McCain watch on as US Republican Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, waves to supporters at his South Carolina Primary night rally in Charleston, South Carolina, January 19, 2008 (REUTERS/Joshua Lott)
The Astute Bloggers have analysis on the win tonight.
UPDATE 5: Jeff Goldstein sums up what a lot of conservatives may be feeling tonight.
