Republican presidential hopeful John McCain picked up a trio of red states early in the night Tuesday, with multiple media outlets projecting a GOP victory in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma. All three were polling fairly strongly for McCain, although there was some indication that the race had been tightening in South Carolina.
The states are mid-weights in the Electoral College, with Oklahoma adding 7, Tennessee 11, and South Carolina 8, adding 26 votes to McCain's total.
McCain's victory in South Carolina eliminates the possibility that rival Democrat Barack Obama could sweep the Atlantic seaboard. Obama was down by 10 points in South Carolina prior to the election.
Earlier in the evening McCain picked up a victory in Kentucky, securing that state's 8 electoral votes. McCain's early electoral total is 34, to the 77 given to Obama by all the major media outlets. There have been some sources calling Pennsylvania for Obama, but others have held out.
A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to secure the White House.
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