The Governor of Texas, Mr George Bush, has got a welcome boost in his presidential campaign by winning the Delaware Republican primary but it was also an unexpected bonus for his main challenger, Senator John McCain.
Mr Bush won in the small state with 51 per cent of the vote but Mr McCain, who had not bothered to campaign there, was second with 25 per cent, reflecting the "bounce" he has got among voters everywhere with his big win over Mr Bush in New Hampshire last week.
Mr McCain beat another Republican hopeful, billionaire publisher Mr Steve Forbes, into third place in Delaware, which the latter won in 1996 and where he had campaigned hard in recent days. Mr Forbes, who has spent tens of millions of dollars of his personal wealth in this year's campaign, has decided to drop out of the Republican nomination race, his campaign said last night.
Mr McCain said yesterday that he was "fired up" by his showing in Delaware, where he had not campaigned even one day or spent any money on TV ads.
But the campaign between Mr McCain and Mr Bush in South Carolina has turned increasingly bitter, with both men running negative ads in spite of a pledge last December, sealed with an embrace, not to do so. South Carolina, which votes on February 19th, has become a crucial battleground for both men.
Mr Bush needs to win there to halt the momentum of the McCain campaign, which is attracting millions of dollars and thousands of volunteers through the Internet as a result of the Arizona senator's stunning victory in New Hampshire.
Mr McCain needs to win South Carolina to prove that New Hampshire, where he attracted a big independent vote, was not a flash in the pan. The latest polls show Mr McCain slightly ahead of Mr Bush, who had a 20-point lead in South Carolina before the shock result from New Hampshire.
Both men are presenting themselves as conservatives in a state with a large number of military veterans and noted for its religious fundamentalism.
Mr Bush is hoping to attract most of the 10 to 15 per cent support which Mr Forbes had been attracting in South Carolina. Mr Bush would be seen as closer to Mr Forbes because of their conservative taxation and anti-abortion policies.
The third Republican candidate in South Carolina, a former ambassador, Mr Alan Keyes, is given no chance as his support is in single digits. Mr Keyes, who is African-American and now has a TV chat show, is an impressive debater but his campaign is largely a crusade against abortion and is attracting little support so far.
Mr Gary Bauer, another Republican candidate with a similar moral crusade agenda, dropped out of the race after a poor showing in New Hampshire.
There are signs the Republican establishment, most of which backs Mr Bush, is getting alarmed at the bitter tone that has entered the primary in South Carolina. The more Mr Bush and Mr McCain attack each other, the more ammunition they may be handing the Democrats in the presidential election in the autumn.
The Bush campaign, following the New Hampshire setback, is portraying Mr McCain as a hypocrite for claiming he is a reformer on campaign finance while he still solicits large donations from companies which he oversees as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. The McCain campaign is "crawling with lobbyists", according to Mr Bush, who keeps referring to his rival as "Chairman McCain".
The McCain campaign is running TV ads saying Mr Bush "twists the truth like Clinton" in his attacks on Mr McCain. This has led Mr Bush's spokeswoman, Ms Karen Hughes, to denounce the ad as "offensive". She said that Mr McCain should be "ashamed" of comparing Mr Bush to Mr Clinton's "level of dishonesty".
Mr McCain has mocked Mr Bush for his new antagonism after embracing him earlier in the campaign as "my buddy" when Mr Bush was 30 points ahead in the polls. "Now all of a sudden he's turned into Mr Hyde."
Most attention is now on the Republican squabbling as the next Democratic primaries are not until "Super Tuesday" on March 7th. But former senator Mr Bill Bradley is also stepping up his attacks on Vice-President Al Gore as he campaigns in the important states of New York and California.
Mr Gore retorts that he will not descend to Mr Bradley's level in "negative campaigning".