McCain and Huckabee in Tight Race for South Carolina

John McCain and Mike Huckabee were in locked in a tight battle for first place in the Republican primary in South Carolina last night, according to exit polls after the polling stations closed.

Both men, who were appealing to different constituencies, need a win to keep campaign momentum going.

McCain, the most moderate of the Republican candidates, concentrated his campaign along the coastal areas and the southern part of the state, where military veterans and retirees are concentrated. Huckabee focused on the state's Bible Belt, in the north.

But McCain had to reach out beyond his core vote in order to win and that meant taking some of the evangelical vote. It was tough for him, given the strong feelings in the state of a sudden rise in Latino immigration, an emotive issue that cost him votes: he last year supported a Senate plan that would have offered illegal immigrants a route to legality.

The exit polls suggested that the battle for third place was equally tight, between Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson. Romney deserted South Carolina earlier in the week after realizing he could not win there, partly because of negative reaction to his Mormon religion among Christian evangelicals, and concentrated instead of Nevada, where he won on Saturday.

Fred Thompson needs a good result in South Carolina. Fourth place could force him to pull out.

South Carolina has been the pivotal contest for Republicans in the past. The winner in the state in recent contests has gone on to become the Republican nominee: Bush in 2000, Robert Dole in 1996, Bush senior in 1988.