WASHINGTON - John McCain claimed a sweet South Carolina victory that eluded him in 2000 - and, if history is a guide, may have set himself on course to become the GOP presidential nominee.
No Republican since 1980 has won the party's nod without a triumph in the first-in-the-South primary.
"It just took us a while. That's all. Eight years is not a long time," McCain said in an Associated Press interview. He added: "It sure was nice to have a lot of our old friends be happier that we've won."
Still, for all the talk of the past, McCain certainly doesn't have the nomination locked up and this year's race is far from conventional.
Indeed, the wide-open contest now turns to Florida, where over the next 10 days no less than three of his rivals - and perhaps more - will seek to knock him off his momentum-fueled pedestal. The extraordinarily diverse state votes Jan. 29 and offers a winner-take-all cache of 57 delegates. More than 20 states vote thereafter on Feb. 5, and the race may not be determined even then.
"We're waiting for you," said Rudy Giuliani, sending notice to his rivals that he's lying in wait in Florida. The former New York mayor has yet to win a contest and has pinned his candidacy on the state.
McCain, for his part, said: I'm very confident we'll win in Florida."
So appeared another candidate angling for that state.
"If you want the nomination and you want to win the presidency, you gotta get Florida," Mitt Romney said, already in the state as he set the stakes and celebrated his win Saturday in barely contested Nevada. The former Massachusetts governor already had won Michigan, his native state, and largely overlooked Wyoming.
Mike Huckabee, the South Carolina second-place finisher, made clear he was going forward, declaring: "The path to the White House is not ending."
Two weeks into state-by-state voting, the GOP nomination remains up for grabs. Three different candidates have won in the six states that have voted thus far.
Romney ditched South Carolina on Thursday to campaign in Nevada, as it became increasingly clear that his multimillion-dollar, yearlong investment in the Southern state wouldn't produce a first-place finish. As he traveled to Nevada, he argued that he was seeking the largest share of the state's 31 delegates at stake. In contrast, South Carolina offered 24.
Indeed, Romney easily cruised to victory in the state's caucuses; only he and libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul competed in the state. With his Nevada win, Romney extended his overall lead in the race for delegates to the GOP's nominating convention this summer.
His Mormon faith proved beneficial in Nevada; Mormons represented roughly a quarter of those attending Nevada's GOP caucuses, and virtually all of them were voting for Romney. Half of Romney's votes came from Mormons. In contrast, skepticism about his Mormon faith in South Carolina's Christian evangelical corridors proved difficult to overcome.