Will South Carolina Eliminate Any Republican Candidates?

In FIRST READ, MSNBC Mark Murray writes:

...As for South Carolina, the question is whether this GOP primary actually eliminates any contenders? We thought so a week ago -- but we aren't so sure now. If McCain, Huckabee, and Thompson are a close 1, 2, 3, what's the incentive for any to get out? The only one is if money dries up. For McCain and Thompson, that's a real possibility; for Huckabee, not so much -- he can live off the land a bit easier than the other two. Weather could be a HUGE factor with snow hurting Huckabee. Of course, the good news for Huckabee is that his voters are the most fervent and may not be intimidated by the weather. No one needs this victory more than McCain. He has to prove to skeptics that he can win a GOP primary that is dominated by actual Republicans (of course, the exit polls in New Hampshire did show McCain slightly beating Romney among GOP voters)...

I, for one, do not think the weather (raining right now in the low country of South Carolina) will keep Huckabee supporters away from the voting locations. One thing that might add confusion is a recent "consolidation" of voting sites as reported in the Summerville Journal Scene. I am not sure why voting precincts had to be consolidated, but I am happy to say I discovered this change.

Medieval and Profoundly Catholic View of God and How the World Works

Ric Caric writes:

...Huckabee believes that God is putting his chips squarely on the Huckabee square.

But why?

Huckabee has a very medieval and profoundly Catholic concept of how the world works. He believes that "literally thousands of people are praying" on behalf of his campaign and that their intercession with God has resulted in God favoring his campaign and supporting him.

What about the other Republican candidates like Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Ron Paul?

It follows from Huckabee's views that God must not only be ignoring the candidacies of the other Republicans, God must actively be working against them. Perhaps Huckabee thinks that God hates most Republicans even though he favors Huckabee. There's nothing to object to in the first part of that statement. Given that the Christian god disdains wealth, insists that people love their enemies, and values the poor, depressed, and suffering over the happy and secure, it should be obvious that God hates the Republicans.

The only question is whether God is making an exception for Huckabee or not.

I don't think so myself. If God is doing anything, he's favoring Huckabee as the weakest and weirdest Republican candidate for the general election and thus ensuring that the Republican Party as a whole is going to lose.

In other words, Huckabee's rise is solid proof that God loves Hillary

Huckabee is 2nd in GOP Race

Alan Fram writes:

WASHINGTON - Mike Huckabee has vaulted from nowhere into second place in the Republican presidential race, riding a burst of support from evangelicals, Southerners and conservatives, a nationwide poll showed Friday.

The surge by the former Arkansas governor has come largely at the expense of Fred Thompson, according to the national survey by The Associated Press and Ipsos. Thompson has dropped after failing to galvanize the party's right-wing core as much as some had expected.

Rudy Giuliani remains the front-runner, yet while his support long has been steady it shows signs of fraying. Huckabee's growing strength in the South has come as the former New York mayor's support there has dropped, the poll found.

"Why not me?" Huckabee said in an interview Thursday. "I meet all the criteria. I'm conservative, but I think I appeal to a broader set of voters. And I think that people are also looking for someone with whom they can identify."