Romney Essentially Pulls Out of SC, Conceding the State to Huckabee and McCain

    The Politico is reporting this morning that Mitt Romney is essentially conceding South Carolina to his opponents on Saturday, concentrating instead on Nevada.
    Despite many contentions to the contrary, the GOP is race is coming into focus. If Mike Huckabee can't win South Carolina, he is unlikely to be the nominee. Ditto for Fred Thompson. That means a John McCain victory on Saturday will reduce the field to three viable candidates (whether the other two stay in the race or not) and if Giuliani can't hold Florida on the 29th, his campaign will be severely weakened too.
    If McCain wins SC on Saturday, Florida will determine the future of the GOP race. If McCain wins that too, he will be the clear front-runner. If not . . . well, we'll get to that after we see what happens in South Carolina.