(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-20 11:07

Carlie Smith, a 6-year-old supporter of Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ), wears a sticker on her nose as she waits for McCain to come out at his Primary night rally in Charleston, South Carolina January 19, 2008. [Agencies]

Sen. John McCain won a hard-fought South Carolina primary Saturday night, avenging a bitter personal defeat in a bastion of conservatism and gaining ground in an unpredictable race for the Republican presidential nomination. Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama split the spoils in Nevada caucuses marred by late charges of dirty politics.

"We've got a long way to go," McCain told The Associated Press in an interview. The man whose campaign was left for dead six months ago quickly predicted that victory in the first southern primary would help him next week when Florida votes, and again on Feb. 5 when more than two dozen states hold primaries and caucuses.

"This is one step on a long journey," Clinton told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. She captured the popular vote, but Obama edged her out for national convention delegates at stake, taking 13 to her 12.

Obama issued a statement that said he had conducted an "honest, uplifting campaign ... that appealed to people's hopes instead of their fears."

If the Democrats had co-front-runners, the Republicans had none, and looked to South Carolina to begin winnowing an unwieldy field.

McCain defeated former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in a close race in the state that snuffed out his presidential hopes eight years ago. The Arizonan was gaining 33 percent of the vote to just under 30 percent for his closest rival.

"It just took us a while. That's all. Eight years is not a long time," McCain told the AP.

Appearing before supporters, Huckabee was a gracious loser, congratulating McCain for "running a civil and a good and a decent campaign."

Far from conceding defeat in the race, he added, "The process is far, far from over."

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was in a struggle for third place with about 16 percent, after saying he needed a strong showing to sustain his candidacy. Another Republican, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, dropped out even before the votes were tallied.

Interviews with South Carolina voters leaving their polling places indicated that McCain, an Arizona senator, and Huckabee were dividing the Republican vote evenly. As was his custom, McCain was winning the votes of self-described independents.

South Carolina was the second half of a campaign double-header for Republicans.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney cruised to victory earlier in the day in the little-contested Nevada caucuses.

No matter the state, the economy was the top issue in all three races on the ballot.

Republicans in Nevada and South Carolina cited immigration as their second most-important concern.

Among Democrats in Nevada, health care was the second most-important issue followed by the Iraq war, which has dominated the race for months.

With three contests on the ballot, it was the busiest day of the presidential campaign to date, and fittingly enough for a pair of wide-open races, every contest produced a different winner. Romney rolled to victory in Nevada, winning roughly 50 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate field.

With a black man and a woman as the leading contenders, the Democratic race was history in the making — and increasingly testy, as well.

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