Signs Point to McCain?

Michael Barone is pulling up some statistics that look good for John McCain. For instance, Charleston County (a heavy military area that McCain won slimly in 2000) is reporting about 30 percent of its precincts, and McCain is up 20 points on Mitt Romney and by a greater margin over Huckabee.

It remains to be seen if those precincts are typical and what pans out throughout the state, but a jump in his lead in that area by such a margin (up from 3 percent in 2000) certainly sounds good.

If he does win in South Carolina, where he was beaten in 2000, and overtakes a Southern preacher (Huck) and a Southern conservative (Fred) after spending the last eight years ticking off the base, it's quite a remarkable win. We shall see.

Update: More on high turn-out and late deciders.