CONWAY, South Carolina—In the past 48 hours Sen. John McCain has set high expectations for Mitt Romney’s campaign in South Carolina and New Hampshire, raising the possibility that Romney just may fall short.
Speaking in Peterborough, N.H. earlier this week, McCain promised an overwhelming victory in the Granite State to make up for Romney’s 8-point victory in the Iowa Caucuses.
“I hope at the end of this appearance, that you’ve watched this Romney campaign throughout this state, that we will get an overwhelming vote that will catapult this candidate to the White House,” he said.
Today at a rally in South Carolina, McCain urged the large audience to rally around Romney, because “ It’s going to come down, as it always does my friends, to South Carolina.”
While Romney is more than likely to win in New Hampshire there is still time for another candidate to deprive him of the “overwhelming” margin. And here in South Carolina, Romney still has his work cut out for him. With Michele Bachmann out of the race and Texas Gov. Rick Perry floundering, Rick Santorum is making the case that he is conservatives’ last chance to defeat Romney — and if he can rally them together, he may well see victory here on January 21st.
South Carolina has picked the eventual Republican nominee in every nominating contest since 1980.