HARLESTON, S.C. - The heady surge stopped in South Carolina, but Arizona Senator John McCain vowed last night that his populist crusade was far from finished. In fact, he said, as a hallfull of supporters cheered, it ''grows stronger.''
''I congratulate Governor Bush on his victory here and wish him a happy celebration and a good night's rest,'' said McCain as his wife, Cindy, stood close at his side. ''He's going to need it, my friends, for we have just begun to fight, and I cannot wait for the next round.''
McCain's 10-minute address was less a concession speech than a call to arms. And while he smiled as broadly as a winner, his remarks suggested a steely determination and a deep disdain for his rival.
''I say to you, I am a uniter, not a divider,'' McCain said. ''I don't just say it, I live it. I am a real reformer. I don't say it, I live it. And I am a fighter for this country. I don't just say it, I live it.''
McCain said he was heading immediately to Michigan, which holds its primary Tuesday, and then to the same-day contest in ''my beautiful Arizona.'' Aides predicted McCain, emphasizing a positive reform message, would win them both.
''I'm going to fight with very ounce of strength I have, but I am going to keep fighting clean, and I'm going to keep fighting the battle of ideas,'' McCain said, as the crowd cheered ''Mich-i-gan, Mich-i-gan.''
The stakes couldn't have been higher for the former POW and political maverick, who won a spectacular victory in the New Hampshire GOP primary 20 days ago and needed to show South Carolina that he is no shooting star, but a candidate with the staying power to stop Bush.
Now, McCain is the one who got trounced in a bare-knuckles campaign in a traditional Republican state, and the course for the nomination suddenly looks much more tenuous and treacherous. With the failure of his flat-out effort in South Carolina, the odds that he can overcome Bush's financial and organizational advantages have grown a lot longer.
John Weaver, McCain's political director, rebutted allegations that the campaign made a mistake when it aired an ad suggesting Bush was as untrustworthy as President Clinton. Nor would Weaver second-guess McCain's decision last week to pull all negative ads, even as Bush bombarded South Carolinians with a harshly worded anti-McCain message.
''It's John's campaign, and he did not want to wake up, or have his family wake up, and feel dirty about it,'' said Weaver, adding he believed Bush had ''penalized'' his nomination bid by cozying up with the religious conservatives and distorting McCain's record in South Carolina.
''There were a thousand tomahawks in the air, and it was hard to fight off every one of them,'' Weaver said, adding that Bush's message ''will not sell'' in the northeastern states, like Massachusetts, that hold their primaries March 7.
A big turnout of Democrats and independents propelled McCain in New Hampshire. Yesterday, McCain awoke to polls that showed Bush with a solid lead overall and to calls from supporters who suggested Republican Party operatives were making it hard for independents and Democrats to vote.
According to McCain aides, more than 20 polling places in largely Democratic, African-American neighborhoods of Greenville did not open as planned yesterday, and voters were rerouted to what they said was a ''consolidated'' precinct.
McCain did not charge anyone with trying to suppress turnout, but he did call for an investigation and say he was unhappy that voters had been denied access to the polls.
''It's just disappointing that anyone, anywhere is deprived of the ability to vote,'' McCain told reporters yesterday morning as he prepared to leave Greenville for Charleston. ''It's just not fair.''
But McCain seemed moved by what he called ''this wild ride.''
''When I'm very old, in the old soldiers' home with my feet up on the railing,'' he said, ''I'll look back on the South Carolina experience and say, `that was an incredible part of my life.'''
