As the results rolled in, one question was foremost in everyone's mind: After Saturday's defeat, is there a credible scenario in which McCain could win the Republican nomination? "Not really," says TIME chief political correspondent Eric Pooley. "At this point, a McCain candidacy becomes almost inconceivable."
Of course, not everyone agrees: The McCain camp is wearing a brave face; advisers are quick to offer excuses for McCain's loss. This was not, they say, a referendum on McCain's "electability." Results in conservative South Carolina, they go on to spin, are hardly repr'sentative of the nation as a whole — Michigan's primary will be a more accurate predictor of general voting sentiment. And, as the talking heads, ever anxious to keep the contest alive, are quick to point out, while the support of the religious right was a wonderful tool for Bush in South Carolina, in more moderate states it may prove to be something of a monkey on the governor's back. As TIME political columnist Margaret Carlson told CNN on Saturday night, "Bush has painted himself into a corner in the past couple of weeks. He's now a self-styled bedrock conservative who could be President of South Carolina."
McCain, who, with characteristic optimism, is calling Michigan a "must-win," is fuming over Bush's onslaught of negative ads in recent weeks. Whatever the reasons for McCain's loss in South Carolina, Saturday probably marked the beginning of the end for his surprising and somehow beguiling crusade. It remains to be seen whether McCain — who was adversarial and at times bitter in his concession speech — can find a way to rescue the effort.