More evidence that the news media didn’t give John Kerry the spin he wanted out of Tuesday night’s results and may be willing to accept John Edwards’ tie in Oklahoma as enough to keep things going:

Karen Tumulty leading off her piece in Time magazine:

Frontrunner John Kerry’s hopes for a clean, quick end to the Democrats’ foreshortened primary season dimmed on Tuesday night with North Carolina Senator John Edwards’ decisive victory in the South Carolina primary and his close second in Oklahoma. With five more wins under Kerry’s belt, it is more than ever his race to lose. But the tight finish in Oklahoma suggests that not all Democrats have bought into the idea that a liberalish Senator from Massachusetts is the party’s best hope against George Bush in November.

The LA Times’s Ron Brownstein dicing up the result and exit polls:

John F. Kerry’s near sweep of Tuesday’s seven primaries and caucuses underscored his strength in the Democratic presidential race. But the results also identified possible chinks in his armor that could let a rival — probably John Edwards — mount a drive to stop him.

And Adam Nagourney’s lede in the New York Times continuing the theme:

Senator John Kerry rolled to substantial victories in the Democratic presidential contests in Missouri, Delaware, Arizona, New Mexico and North Dakota last night, but Senator John Edwards won handily in South Carolina, allowing him to portray the contest as a battle with Mr. Kerry and keep the race alive at least through February.