COLUMBIA, June 10 -- The most telling number from Tuesday night in South Carolina is not the one Lindsey Graham won with. It is what the winning cost. A four-term senator in one of the most Republican states in America needed a reported 27 million dollars, the president's endorsement, and every advantage of incumbency to clear 50 percent against a businessman most of the country had never heard of.

Graham took roughly 59 percent of the Republican primary vote, with his closest challenger, the businessman Mark Lynch, near 28, according to the Associated Press tally, clearing the majority threshold that lets him skip a June 23 runoff and proceed to November, NBC News reported. Four other challengers split the remainder. He will face Annie ...