It appears turnout for the Florida Republican primary will end up edging turnout for the Democratic contest -- but not by enough to quell the ongoing perception that Democratic voters are more enthusiastic about their candidate field than Republicans are about theirs.

With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting across the state, according to the Associated Press, there were 1,777,000 votes recorded in the Republican primary to 1,620,000 in the Democratic primary.

Yet the Republican electorate was subjected to full-bore campaigns by primary winner John McCain and runner-up Mitt Romney, both fighting for momentum and the mantle of "front-runner" heading into the crucial primary pile-up on Super Tuesday next week; Rudy Giuliani, who set up camp virtually full time in an unsuccessful effort to use Florida to turn the tide in his favor; and Mike Huckabee, who bid to build a Southern base in the primary. The candidates combined to spend millions of dollars on campaign ads and get-out-the-vote efforts in the state.

Democrats, on the other hand, turned out in relatively equivalent numbers, even though none of their candidates played any active role or spent any campaign money in encouraging them to do so.

That is because of the drastically different manner in which the national Republican and Democratic organizations pursued their disputes with their Florida affiliates over the state's decision to hold its primary on Jan. 29, prior to the Feb. 5 starting date that both national parties had set for most states.

The Democratic National Committee went draconian on the Florida Democrats, taking away away 210 of their national convention delegates and prevailing upon all its major candidates -- including primary winner Hillary Clinton, runner-up Barack Obama and third-place finisher John Edwards -- not to campaign in the state. The Republican National Committee also punished its Florida affiliate, but not nearly as harshly, taking away half of the alloted 114 delegates and allowing GOP candidates to campaign at will in the state.

Although Rudy Giuliani opened his Florida primary night speech quoting the "great philosopher" Yogi Berra in saying it's not over until it's over, there are now reports from multiple news outlets that the former New York City mayor will end his floundering bid for the Republican presidential nomination tomorrow and endorse Florida winner John McCain.

The reported decision comes in the wake of Giuliani's failure in a Florida contest that became do-or-die for him, largely a result of his own risky strategy. Though he had led in national Republican preference polls through most of 2007, it soon became evident that the "retail campaigning" of the early-voting states such as Iowa and New Hampshire was not his forte. As he nosedived in polls in those states, Giuliani turned to Florida in hopes of establishing a "big state" strategy, with the name ID he had built with his image of stalwart leadership in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on his home city carrying him back in contention.

But his absence from competition for the key early weeks of the campaign, combined with the greater attention paid by the largely conservative Republican primary electorate to Giuliani's relatively liberal views on key social issues and his stormy personal life, irreparably deflated his campaign. Giuliani, in incomplete returns, has 15 percent of the Florida primary vote, way behind McCain at 37 percent and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 32 percent, and just 1 point ahead of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and his underfunded campaign. Had Giuliani not run second behind McCain in populous Miami-Dade County -- home to numerous transplanted New Yorkers -- he would have dropped behind Huckabee.

If Giuliani drops out, he will become the second Republican to leave the race after showing that their presidential prospects were much more attractive in theory than in reality. Giuliani and Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee senator, both had strong showings in polls during the preliminaries to the campaign, but proved to have limited appeal among Republican primary participants when the actual voting began.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, at the beginning of his victory speech in Florida tonight, noted that he had won the first primary so far this year in which only Republicans were allowed to vote. McCain has drawn opposition from some conservative activists over some positions he has taken over the years as a Republican "maverick," and some observers had questioned whether he could prevail in states that did not allow independent voters to participate in Republican primaries (as was the case in New Hampshire and South Carolina, the two states where he had previously won primaries this year).

McCain singled out Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez for thanks. McCain was boosted by the late campaign endorsements by Crist and Martinez, the most prominent Republican officeholders in the state.

The Republican primary results in Miami-Dade County -- by far Florida's most populous jurisdiction -- went a long way toward sealing Arizona Sen. John McCain's projected victory: McCain dominated there, while ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, his closest rival statewide, failed to compete in Miami-Dade.

With about three-fifths of precincts counted, McCain took 49.3 percent of the Republican vote in Miami-Dade County. It was not Romney who finished second in the region, but former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was a distant third statewide, but -- benefitting from the large population of former New Yorkers transplanted to the county -- ran second in Miami-Dade with 29.7 percent. Romney checked in with just 14.9 percent.

The Associated Press and the networks are projecting Arizona Rep. John McCain as the winner over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by a close but clear margin.

The win gives McCain all 57 delegates at stake in Florida's winner-take-all primary (the state had half of its allocated delegates removed by the Republican National Committee over a scheduling dispute). Perhaps more importantly, it gives him added momentum -- following a similarly narrow win over ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Jan. 19 South Carolina primary -- heading into the crucial bloc of nearly two dozen voting events on "Super Tuesday" next week.

With just more than half of precincts reporting in AP's vote count, McCain had 37 percent to Romney's 32 percent. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who essentially camped out in Florida in hopes of offsetting poor showings in early primaries and caucuses, failed to do so, taking 16 percent in the partial count. Huckabee also endured a blow to his hopes of at least establishing himself as the premier candidate of the South, running fourth with 13 percent.

Call Florida's delegate-less Democratic primary a "beauty contest" or "straw poll" if you will, but that didn't stop easy winner Hillary Clinton from staging a full-blown victory party in the state tonight.

The primary night tableau was in sharp contrast to the one just three days earlier in South Carolina, where Barack Obama, Clinton's leading rival for the Democratic nomination, won a one-sided victory and roused a roomful of ecstatic supporters with the rousing oratory that is his political trademark.

This time it was Clinton who gave a pep talk to her supporters, describing the win as a preview of big victories she predicted for herself in the slew of primaries on next week's "Super Tuesday."

Clinton referred to the fact that she had joined the rest of the Democratic candidates in a voluntary embargo on campaigning in the state that had been requested by the Democratic National Committee, which had stripped the state party of its national convention delegates for breaking the party's scheduling rules for nominating contests. "I could not come here to ask in person for your votes, but I am here to thank you for your votes today," Clinton said.

She also repeated her intention to fight for the seating of the delegates from Florida and Michigan (where she won an earlier primary tainted by the same kind of scheduling dispute between the national and state parties). Clinton's move on this matter, announced just days before the Florida primary, outraged her opponents, who accused her of staging an end run.

And although the upfront role played in her campaign by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has caused controversy, she echoed the theme of his initial 1992 White House campaign in her Florida speech. "I believe it's time again we have a president who puts the American people first."

The networks have gotten the night's easy call out of the way, projecting New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton as the easy winner of Florida's hobbled Democratic primary. Clinton, in partial returns, has 51 percent to 28 percent for Barack Obama and 17 percent for John Edwards.

The tangible benefit of this win for Clinton won't be determined for some time. The Florida Democratic Party has been stripped of all 210 of its delegates to the national convention by the Democratic National Committee because of a dispute over the state's violation of the national party's scheduling rules.

The DNC contends that its decision is final, and if it is, then Clinton's win will be merely symbolic. But Clinton, in the days before the Florida primary, said she would instruct her delegates at the national convention to vote to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan, which has incurred the same draconian penalty from the DNC for holding a Jan. 15 primary in which Clinton defeated an "uncommitted" line (Obama and Edwards had pulled their names from the ballot in support of the DNC's position). And some observers speculate that the national party eventually will give in, rather than risk further alienating Democratic voters in Michigan and Florida, which are expected to be key battleground states in the general election.

Today's results do suggest a couple of things about the Democratic contest going forward:

* Obama's one-sided victory in the South Carolina primary last Saturday has not given him unstoppable momentum. The "straw poll" or "beauty contest" devolution of the Florida Democratic primary, with no official delegates at stake and the candidates agreeing to forgo active campaigning, indicates that Clinton -- still the front-runner in national polls of Democratic voters -- maintains a strong base of support.

* Obama has done best so far in settings such as the Iowa caucuses and South Carolina primary, in smaller "retail politics" states where he has been able to bring his charisma fully to bear. But Florida, where he was not able to personally campaign, suggests that Obama has a formidable task in overcoming Clinton in the quasi-national primary on Super Tuesday, with nearly two dozen events from coast to coast, in which he will be much more reliant on media advertising and less on personal appearances to try to persuade voters.

In his campaign as the libertarian maverick in the Republican presidential nomination contest, Texas Rep. Ron Paul has drawn a small core of fervent followers, and he even broke into double-digit percentages in a couple of the early caucus events.

But there is a reason why Paul, the only GOP contender who opposes the war in Iraq and has sharply criticized President Bush's handling of that conflict and the economy, is doing so poorly in Florida (3 percent so far) tonight and in other mass-voting events: Most people voting in Republican primaries still support Bush.

CNN's analysis of exit poll data showed that two-thirds of voters in today's Florida Republican primary have a positive view of the Bush administration -- this for a president who, among the public at large, has had job approval ratings averaging the low 30s for many months.

The early vote totals posted by Florida officials show there is one clear result: Hillary Clinton is winning by a wide margin in a primary demoted to the equivalent of a massive straw poll by the scheduling dispute between national and Florida Democratic officials. Clinton, according to the state division of election's Web site, has 50percent of the vote to 29percent for Barack Obama and 17 percent for John Edwards.

With John McCain (33.9 percent) and Mitt Romney (33.4 percent) running neck and neck on the Republican side (as indicated in pre-primary polls), the only certain thing appears to be that neither Rudy Giuliani nor Mike Huckabee is making the impact he needed in Florida. Giuliani, who hardly registered in earlier contests and spent most of the campaign so far in Florida, had 14.1 percent, while Huckabee, who needed a strong showing to establish himself as at least a strong regional favorite, had 13.7 percent.

The Republican contest has more tangible meaning for the campaign going forward. While the Jan. 29 GOP primary also broke Republican National Committee scheduling rules, the RNC penalized the state just half of its delegates and permitted its candidates to run full-fledged campaigns. The Democratic National Committee, on the other hand, stripped its Florida affiliate of all its delegates and persuaded the candidates not to actively campaign in Florida.

Exit poll data published on the CNN Web site indicate that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama dominated Saturday's South Carolina Democratic presidential primary across gender and age lines -- although those outcomes are greatly influenced by his overwhelming landslide among black voters, who made up just more than half of the Democratic electorate.

* Obama took 80 percent of the black vote in the South Carolina Democratic primary, to 18 percent for runner-up Hillary Clinton. John Edwards, who won the South Carolina primary in 2004 but finished a distant third Saturday, received minuscule support among black voters.

* Clinton and Edwards roughly tied among white voters at 38 percent, with Obama receiving 24 percent of the white vote.

* Obama has been making a strong effort to appeal to young voters across racial lines, and his strongest support among white voters came from the youngest. Among non-black voters ages 18-29 (5 percent of all exit poll respondents), Obama received the support of 52 percent. He was backed by about two-thirds of all respondents age 18-29, who made up about 14 percent of the electorate.

* There had been a "gender gap" in earlier Democratic presidential nominating events, with women voters more favorable to Clinton and men voters more favorable to Obama. That was not the case in South Carolina, where Obama received support of 54 percent of both the male and female respondents to the exit poll.

* A definite gender gap between the two major parties appeared to be fully in evidence though. The CNN exit poll numbers show 61 percent of the Democratic respondents were women to 39 percent men. This compares to a near-even gender split in the Republican presidential primary held last Saturday, in which 51 percent of exit poll respondents were men and 49 percent were women.

So how much more jazzed were South Carolina voters about participating in Saturday's Democratic presidential primary than last week's Republican primary -- and the Democratic contest in 2004?

Lots more jazzed....

* With just a handful of precincts yet to report in the Associated Press vote tally, almost 532,000 votes had been recorded in the Democratic primary. That greatly exceeded the unofficial vote total of 444,090 in last Saturday's Republican presidential primary, based on results posted on the South Carolina Republican Party.

* The Democratic turnout constituted an increase of roughly 80 percent -- ! -- over the total turnout of 293,843 for the 2004 South Carolina Democratic primary, in which then-North Carolina Sen. (and South Carolina native) John Edwards defeated eventual nominee John Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, with black political activist Al Sharpton a distant third.

* The 2008 Republican primary turnout was more than 20 percent less than the turnout for the party's most recent previous competitive presidential primary, in 2000.

* Democratic primary winner Barack Obama had nearly 295,000 votes in nearly complete, unofficial returns... a total that exceeded all the votes cast for all candidates combined in the 2004 primary.

* The total upsurge in turnout was reflected even in the numbers for Edwards, who finished a distant third on Saturday behind Obama and runner-up Hillary Clinton. Edwards' 18 percent vote share for this year's primary was considerably less than half of the 45 percent he took in winning the state's primary in 2004. Yet the roughly 93,500 votes Edwards received this year was down a more modest 30 percent from his 132,660 in 2004. He did so much worse percentage-wise because there were so many more votes cast this time.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards showed no signs Saturday night of giving up his hopes for claiming the Democratic presidential nomination, despite a third-place finish in Saturday's Democratic primary in South Carolina -- the state where he was born and where he won the 2004 Democratic presidential primary over eventual nominee John Kerry.

After stating that he joined Hillary Clinton, the second-place finisher in South Carolina, in congratulating primary winner Barack Obama, Edwards declared, "Now the three of us move on to Feb. 5" -- and the nearly two dozen primaries and caucuses being held on this campaign's "Super Tuesday."

Edwards spent most of the remainder of his primary night speech before supporters in South Carolina emphasizing the main theme of his campaign: that he is running on behalf of poor and economically struggling middle class Americans who he says have been neglected in the nation's politics and policymaking.

"Our campaign from very beginning has been about one central thing: giving voice to millions of Americans who have absolutely no voice in this American democracy," Edwards said.

Edwards continued that for Americans who are worried about health care, living in poverty, concerned about their ability to pay college tuition for their children, are a member of "the forgotten middle class,".or are military veterans who lack sufficient health care or are homeless, "We will speak for you and we will fight for you."

"Your voice will be heard in this campaign and your voice will be heard in America," he said.

Edwards concluded by reiterating that he is in the race to stay. If you are among the millions of Americans who have yet to vote in the nominating campaign, Edwards said, "We will be there with you every single step of the way."

In another powerful star turn as a speaker, Barack Obama told enthusiastic supporters at his South Carolina victory rally Saturday night that his runaway win in the state dispelled any suggestion that his campaign-opening win in the Iowa caucuses was a fluke. He said that after four Democratic contests so far, "We have the most votes, the most delegates and the most diverse coalition of Americans that we have seen in a long, long time," a coalition he described as young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Latino and Asian and Native Americans.

Repeating the central mantra of his campaign, Obama said his campaign is buoyed by Americans who are "tired of business as usual in Washington, hungry for change and ready to believe again."

Obama won in South Carolina after a campaign that included sharp exchanges with the other top-tier candidate in the Democratic nominating fight, Hillary Clinton, who he has cast as the candidate of the Washington establishment.

Obama alluded frequently to the aggressive tactics recently exhibited by the Clinton campaign, though without naming his rival directly. "The kind of change we seek will not come easy," Obama told his supporters. 

With Obama acknowledged that all of the Democratic candidates "share an abiding desire to end the disastrous policies" of the outgoing Bush administration.

But Obama said he is drawing his support from voters who are "looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington," adding that he has been subject to the "same old tactics that divide us and distract us from addressing the problems that we face."

Obama took another oblique shot at former first lady Clibto, saying his campaign is dispelling the notion that qualification to be president is dependent on "longevity and proximity to the White House."

Obama also described the tactics used by his opponents, again without naming names directly, as a form of politics that is "bad for our party, bad for our country. and this is our chance to end it once and for all."

While the outcomes of the Democratic presidential voting events have so far alternated between victories for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, one statistic has been consistent: Democratic voter turnout has consistently been up over other recent years ... while turnout for Republican primaries and caucuses has been off sharply.

The number of voters in Saturday's South Carolina Democratic primary -- won by Barack Obama, with Hillary Clinton second and South Carolina native John Edwards third -- will greatly exceed the turnout for the state's 2004 primary, won by Edwards with eventual nominee John Kerry second and black activist Al Sharpton a distant third.

With three-quarters of precincts reporting in the Associated Press count, about 380,000 were recorded in the Democratic primary. That compared to the total official vote of 294,000 in 2004.

The Democratic turnout numbers will challenge those in the last Saturday's South Carolina Republican primary, in which about 440,000 cast votes -- down more than 20 percent from the turnout in previous competitive GOP primary in the state, held in 2000.

Former President Bill Clinton told a campaign rally for his wife, Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the Feb. 5 primary state of Missouri that Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary Saturday "fair and square." But Clinton, after stating that the nation needs change from the policies of recent years -- a theme that provides the basis for Obama's campaign -- said the nation needs "the right vision, the right plan, the right leadership" to effect that change ... qualities he implied his wife embodies.

The former president continued that he would be supporting Hillary Clinton for president even if they had never been married if he knew what he knows about her "lifetime of working for positive change," calling her "the best candidate for president" that he has ever had the chance to support.

While Barack Obama's victory in the South Carolina primary was fueled largely by the overwhelming support for among black voters who made up about half of the state's Democratic electorate, his apparently wide margin over Hillary Clinton was sealed by his ability to appeal to a sizable minority of the state's white Democratic voters.

An Associated Press analysis of exit poll data found about a quarter of the state's white voters went for Obama, with Clinton and Edwards roughly splitting the remainder. And Obama continues to show strong appeal to younger voters across racial lines: MSNBC reported that he was favored by almost half of younger white male voters who responded to exit polls.

With the networks calling the South Carolina Democratic primary for Barack Obama milli-seconds after the polls closed, Republicans in Florida -- site of the next primary voting on Tuesday -- decided to take advantage of the media's short attention span by leaking word that Florida GOP Gov. Charlie Crist is endorsing Arizona Sen. John McCain for president. This comes on the heels of another key endorsement of McCain, by Florida Sen. Mel Martinez.

Barack Obama may have been bruised a bit by the testy exchanges in which he exchanged with Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the South Carolina primary. But engaging Obama in a prolonged political brawl appears to be a risky strategy for Clinton and her chief surrogate, husband and former President Bill Clinton, given Obama's projected easy victory in that contest.

According to CNN exit poll analysis, about 6 in 10 Democrats who voted in the South Carolina primary said Bill Clinton's campaigning was important in how they ultimately decided to vote. Among those voters, according to CNN, 47 percent went for Barack Obama, 38 percent went for Hillary Clinton and 14 percentvoted for John Edwards.

On the issues who was to blame for the increased nastiness quotient in the campaign, about half of the exit poll repsondents blamed Obama and Hillary Clinton equally. But Clinton took more blame among the respondents who said they held one candidate more responsible: 21 percent pointed the finger at her, to only 6 percent who blamed Obama.

The Clinton camp now faced a crucial choice, with just 10 days to go for the crucial Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries: Do they tone down the attacks on Obama's record and credibility, or ratchet it up?

If you have a thought about which way they will, or should, go, please share it with us by e-mailing to politicscomments@cq.com.

The network anchors barely had the words, "The polls are closed in South Carolina," out of their mouths before projecting Illinois Sen. Barack Obama the winner based on exit polls. That's a clear indication, of course, that the big lead that Obama had opened in pre-primary polls was real.

The early readings from the exit poll demographics showed that Obama galvanized the support of black voters behind his bid to become the first African-American president. This factor virtually guarantee his victory in South Carolina, a state where blacks make up roughly 30 percent of the population and are generally estimated to make up half or more of the Democratic primary electorate in a Southern state where the mainly conservative white electorate has long leaned to the Republican Party

The big competition to watch in the actual vote count, then, is for second place, between New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former North Carolina Sen. (and South Carolina native) John Edwards. Though it has been obvious for some time that an Edwards victory in his native state, which would have thrust him into top tier competition with Clinton and Obama, was not happening, a leapfrog into second past Clinton, or even a close third might be seen as something of a comeback -- considering how low he'd sunk in state and national polling after his so-so showing in the New Hampshire primary and his completely-out-of-the-running performance in last Saturday's Nevada caucuses.

The Associated Press and multiple networks have called the South Carolina Republican primary for Arizona Sen. John McCain. It's an outcome that provides him with a reviving win after following his Jan. 8 win in New Hampshire with losses to ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Jan. 15 Michigan primary and Saturday afternoon's Nevada caucuses.

But some caution is needed in assessing how big a boost the win will provide McCain, who is winning the state with fewer votes and a smaller vote share than he received in losing to George W. Bush in the key 2000 Republican presidential primary.

A win is a win, and McCain avoided the kind of devastating setback that stanched the momentum he had built by beating Bush in New Hampshire's 2000 primary.

But unlike that 2000 race, in which he faced a single strong candidate presumed to be the party's national front-runner, McCain ran Saturday in a jumbled contest in which six other significant candidates competed for votes, and three of them besides himself took double-digit percentages.

The vote totals speak loudly to the point. In 2000, McCain received nearly 240,000 votes, 42 percent of the total, and was viewed as having suffered a devastating defeat to Bush (who had 53 percent). Tonight, with 91 percent of precincts reporting, McCain had about 134,000 Republican votes, 33 percent of the total, and will claim what undoubtedly will be spun as a big comeback victory.

All told, today';s events lent no more clarity to the no-clear-favorite Republican presidential contest, with Romney winning easily and McCain doing poorly in Nevada, and McCain winning a more narrow victory over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Romney doing poorly in South Carolina.

One conclusion that can be drawn from today's Republican presidential voting events in Nevada and South Carolina is that the jumbled contest still lacks a single candidate who has a reliable national following. If you don't show up and tell GOP primary and caucus goers that you want their vote, you probably aren't going to get it.

Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the only GOP candidate who campaigned heavily for votes in the Nevada caucuses -- in part because his status as the best-funded Republican candidate makes him the only one who can afford to stage serious campaigns just about everywhere, and because other candidates assumed that the large numbers of Mormons who vote Republican in Nevada would benefit Romney, also a member of that religious faith.

The fact that Romney pretty much had the state to himself was borne out in the results. He romped with 51 percent of the vote. Arizona Sen. John McCain, who beat Romney in the New Hampshire primary and ran a competitive second in Michigan, did little campaigning in Nevada and took just 13 percent -- finishing narrowly behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul, whose maverick libertarian campaign has drawn him enough activist followers to break double-digits in two caucus states (though he has drawn much lower shares in higher-turnout primaries). Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson did worse.

But in order to ensure that Nevada landslide, Romney de-emphasized his campaign in South Carolina, where McCain, Huckabee and Thompson went all out. Not surprisingly, Romney was pulling just 15 percent of the South Carolina vote in late returns, running well behind McCain and Huckabee and narrowly trailing Thompson.

No candidate so far better exemplifies the risks of not being there than former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Though the publicity and name recognition he received for his image of standing strong after his city suffered the terrrorist attack of 9/11 enabled him to lead national Republican preference polls through most of 2007, his left-of-the-rest-of-the-candidates views on social issues contributed to his lag in the early-voting states' pre-primary and pre-caucus polls. So Giuliani has retrenched to Florida -- a state with a number of former residents of his home city and state -- in hopes of shocking the field with a breakthrough win there in the state's Jan. 29 primary, the next event on the Republican calendar.

He will need it, because the impact of this unorthodox and extremely risky strategy have been devastating for his campaigns in the earlier states. On Saturday, he took just 4 percent in Nevada and was running with 2 percent in South Carolina's incomplete returns.

CQ Politics reporter Marie Horrigan notes that former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's more recently employed skills as an actor may have been on view tonight, as his primary night speech after losing in South Carolina briefly left the impression that he might be quitting the race:

Republican candidate Fred Thompson -- who fell short of the breakthrough performance in South Carolina that many analysts said he'd need -- had national politics watchers on the edge of their seats with a meandering speech to supporters riddled with so many past tense verbs that it sounded like he was about to announce that he was pulling out of the race. But Thompson ended his speech not with a withdrawal statement, but with a pep talk to his backers.

"We will always be bound by a close bond because we have travelled a very special road together for a very special purpose," Thompson said in comments that he began not long after the polls closed at 7 p.m. eastern time. His talk ran several minutes, during which he thanked his supporters and underscored the central tenets of his campaign — low taxes and full federal funding for programs imposed by the federal government on the states; federalism and a market economy; and an opposition to abortion rights.

"Those are the principles that have made us a successful party over the years ... and if people haven’t changed their minds about them we need to convince them we haven’t changed our minds either," he said.

But just as his speech started sounding like a political farewell, however, he wound up the talk with an exhortation: "We’re called upon from time to time to make our own sacrifices ... to make our own contribution. And my friends, that’s what you’ve done. That’s what you’re doing. And I’m so proud to stand with you in that regard, and we’ll always stand strong together in that regard! We’ll always stand strong together!"

Despite the unclear pep talk Saturday night, CNN reported Thompson had no public schedule Sunday and planned to me with advisers Monday — often a sign of an impending withdrawal. But it may be a little harder to tell with Thompson, the lawyer-turned-actor-turned-senator-turned-actor, who ambled into an already well-established Republican candidate field in September and has run a campaign often portrayed as lacking in energy.

Early returns out of South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary on Saturday indicated that Thompson was jockeying with Yankee Mitt Romney for a third-place finish in South Carolina behind Arkansas' Mike Huckabee and Arizona's John McCain, who were battling for the win. After running poorly in the key early events in Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan, Thompson campaigned heavily in South Carolina in hopes of winning and at least grabbing the mantle of the strongest candidate from the South.

CQ's Leah Nylen contributed to this report.

Polls were scheduled to close across South Carolina at 7 p.m. eastern, and returns from today's Republican primaries should start to trickle in soon.

The three Republicans who campaigned most heavily in South Carolina -- Arizona Sen. John McCain, ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson -- all are looking for a win that would both boost their campaigns and offset former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's easy win this afternoon in the caucuses held in Nevada (which he had pretty much all to himself).

The Democrats also caucused in Nevada today, with New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton winning by a close but clear margin over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

The South Carolina Democrats did not join their Republican counterparts in holding their primary today. Rather they will hold a primary next Saturday, Jan. 26, which now looms huge for Democrat John Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee, who ran a mediocre third in New Hampshire and then had a terrible showing in Nevada today. Edwards was born in South Carolina.

The Michigan Republican Party tonight put out a press release that congratulated ex-Massachusetts Gov. (and Michigan native son) Mitt Romney on his win; hailed the very early primary's impact in focusing attention on the auto industry-dependent state's economic woes; and detailing how the state's 60 delegates will be allocated.

Only problem is that 60 number. The bipartisan decision by Michigan policymakers to schedule its primary for Jan. 15 -- in violation of national party rules barring delegate allocation events before Feb. 5 -- spurred the Republican National Committee to strip the state party of half its delegates (the Democratic National Committee was even more draconian, stripping its state affiliate of all its delegates for breaking the Feb. 5 scheduling threshold for most states).

Leaders of both parties in Michigan have contended throughout the dispute that they expect their delegates to be fully restored by the time of the national conventions late this summer -- if only because Michigan is expected to be a "battleground state" in the November general election.

But in the meantime, the Michigan Republicans officially have only 30 delegates to distribute, not 60.

Hillary Clinton's victory in tonight's Michigan Democratic primary may have more asterisks next to it than Barry Bonds' home run record. The decision by the Democratic National Committee to strip Michigan of its entire delegation over a scheduling dispute means Clinton did not add any delegates to her total. And her decision to leave her name on the state's disputed Jan. 15 ballot -- unlike her main competitors for the nomination, Barack Obama and John Edwards -- gave her a win virtually by default.

Still, the establishment Democrats supporting Clinton in Michigan turned out enough votes to give her a clear victory and spare her from an embarrassingly close contest with the "uncommitted" ballot line.

And you can't accuse the Clinton campaign of underplaying the victory, even under the peculiar circumstances.

According to a press release by Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, "Tonight Michigan Democrats spoke loudly for a new beginning. You spoke out for an economy that would honor the middle class, not punish it. You spoke out for a President who will fight to create good paying jobs at a time when so many families are struggling to make ends meet. You spoke out for an end to the war in Iraq. You spoke out for a quality, affordable health care system that works for all Americans."

"For that, we thank you," Solis continued, concluding, "Your voices matter. And as President, Hillary Clinton will not only keep listening, but will make sure your voice is always heard."

The economy was the biggest issue to Republican voters in economically beleaguered Michigan, shaken by the domestic auto industry's woes. Mitt Romney -- whose father George headed a Detroit auto company before serving as governor of Michigan -- pronounced that he would shape federal tax and regulatory policy to revive the carmakers' fortunes. John McCain, whose supporters revere his "straight talk," took a much different tack, telling Michigan that global economic change meant many of the job Michigan has lost aren't coming back, and that the state needed to re-engineer its economy for the future.

Romney won the primary, and in his victory speech Tuesday night gave credit to his own more upbeat approach. "Tonight is a victory of optimism over Washington-style pessimism," Romney said.

But McCain, in a primary night statement in which he congratulated Romney (while duly noting that the victor is a "native son" of Michigan), held to his economic message and said he was saying what he feels is true rather than what voters might want to hear. 

McCain said, "I am as committed now as I have ever been to making sure that no state, whether its Michigan or South Carolina or anywhere in this blessed country, is left behind in the global economy. But that global economy is here to stay and it is, by its nature, constantly changing. To compete more successfully in it, we must better prepare American workers and students to seize its opportunities. That is how we will build a stronger and more prosperous America.

"That is what I told the people of Michigan," McCain continued. "And I don't believe I could have honestly told them anything else."

Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney turned to the state where he was born and where his late father George Romney was governor to steady his stumbling campaign after season-opening losses in Iowa and New Hampshire... and he got what he needed.

Every contest in this jumbled Republican campaign seems to produce a new candidate teetering on the brink. It was Romney last week, after he lost to John McCain in New Hampshire. Now McCain will be seen as the candidate having much to prove in the key upcoming contests in Nevada and South Carolina (this Saturday) and Florida on Jan. 29 (two weeks from today).

Although McCain's camp can spin that the Arizona senator made it close on Romney's (original) home turf, he did not do nearly as well as he did in winning the state over George W. Bush in the 2000 GOP presidential campaign. And he fell short in a state where independents can vote in the Republican primary, and did heavily for the senator eight years ago. Now the primary schedule turns mainly to states where GOP participation is limited to registered Republicans, and where he will be challenged to prove he can win among party base voters -- including many who in the past have expressed frustration with McCain's effort to position himself as a maverick Republican.

So here's what is at stake in South Carolina Saturday:

Romney: Must prove he can win somewhere besides Michigan.

McCain: Must prove he can compete in a Republican-only contest.

Mike Huckabee: The former Arkansas governor, who finished third in Michigan with support largely from evangelical Christians concentrated in the western part of the state, must battle Romney for the conservative mantle, and ex-Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson for primacy as the candidate of the South.

Thompson: A total non-factor so far, the Southern-drawling Thompson needs a big showing in South Carolina to prove that he can at least gain footing as a strong regional candidate.

Rudy Giuliani: Must stay in Florida and hope against hope that his decision to focus on the slew of upcoming big state primaries survives the pitiful vote shares he has been receiving in the early voting states.

Ron Paul: After another apparent single-digit showing in Michigan, it's time for the Texas libertarian's fervent core followers to prove that there's any mass behind his movement.

With Hillary Clinton the only major candidate on the Michigan Democratic ballot -- a convoluted result of the scheduling dispute between the national and state party organizations -- tonight's contest is Clinton vs. Uncommitted... or Clinton vs. Un-Clinton. Early county results show Clinton winning widely, though by widely varying amounts, as reported by CQ Politics' Greg Giroux....

The following are statewide numbers as posted on the Detroit News Web site:

Very early and selective, but these county percentages show Romney leading McCain in a number of places...

Oakland (27 of 570 precincts) -- Romney 48, McCain 28, Huckabee 9

Kent (23 of 267) -- Romney 37, McCain 28, Huckabee 19

Macomb (48 of 431) -- Romney 41, McCain 26, Huckabee 15

From CQ Politics' Greg Giroux....

Seventeen of the 267 precincts have reported in Kent County (Grand Rapids), and Romney is leading McCain by 36% to 27%. The 20% for Mike Huckabee, albeit in early returns, suggest that he had some success with his relatively low-budget effort to target the large evangelical Christian portion of the western Michigan GOP electorate.

For historic perspective when tonight's numbers start coming in .... from CQ Politics senior reporter Greg Giroux...

Some exit poll data is starting to be hashed about by the Associated Press and the nets... No candidate numbers, no big surprises.... CQ Politics' Lauren Phillips collected the following highlights...

* About 70 percent of the participants in today's Michigan voting identified themselves as Republicans. Democratic turnout was greatly depressed by the state party's feud with the Democratic National Committee, which stripped Michigan of all its delegates for going with the Jan. 15 primary (breaking the national party rule setting Feb. 5 as the start date for most states).

* More than half the Republican voters said the economy is the key issue, a far greater proportion than said so in the Iowa caucus electorate on Jan. 3. Michigan has been suffering deep economic problems driven by the downturn in the fortunes of the domestic auto industry.

Meanwhile, local news outlets say turnout was light in Detroit and Grand Rapids, but was relatively heavy in the Lansing area, home to the very politically active Michigan State University academic community (yeah, Lauren and I are MSU grads).

Thought I'd kick off the Michigan primary blog with some comments that suggest that anger over that state's struggling economy is not just a blue-collar phenomenon.

While this is an admittedly small focus group -- a college friend who is a self-described independent and his co-worker who is a self-described Republican -- both are financial industry professionals from Grand Rapids who say they haven't heard what they want to hear from the presidential candidates about Michigan's economic woes ... so much so that neither voted in today's primary.

If you are a Michigan resident and have thoughts you would like to share, please send us an e-mail at politicscomments@cq.com.

The independent's view:

"As someone very interested in state and national politics, I feel ambivalent at best and frustrated at worst with the quality of candidates and quality of debate on the part of both parties. I will not bother to vote today. The Democrats offer nothing today because they screwed up the process of trying to leap-frog other states [on the presidential nominating calendar]. The Republican field doesn’t excite me either as an independent voter. Too much back biting and not enough backbone.

"Our economy is the poor man of the United States and that giant sucking sound, to borrow a phrase from Ross Perot, is the exodus of college graduates to other states and especially the city of Chicago. Newt Gingrich was on The Today Show this morning and said that 40% of college grads coming out of Michigan State University and that other place in Ann Arbor will head out of state.