Greetings from South Carolina, where, after yesterday’s miserable Election Day weather, it’s sunny and beautiful. I have a new story up about McCain’s win here; there were a lot of interesting currents and cross-currents at his victory celebration in Charleston last night. Among them was the relationship between the McCain and Huckabee campaigns:
There has been a lot of talk during this campaign, from Iowa forward, that the two men have some sort of de facto non-aggression pact. Whatever the case, it’s safe to say that the campaigns aren’t at each other’s throats. At McCain’s victory rally in New Hampshire, there was loud booing when Mitt Romney appeared on a giant TV screen to give his concession speech. Nobody wanted to listen; McCain’s staff didn’t even turn up the sound. At The Citadel, when Huckabee pops up on the big TV to concede, there is respectful quiet; the sound comes up and everyone listens to Huckabee, who calls McCain a gracious victor and thanks McCain “for running a civil and a good and a decent campaign.” The friendship continues.