HOWELL, Mich. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain is campaigning hard to win the Michigan primary on Tuesday, but by the time the results roll in he will have already moved on to the next state.

McCain, along with the staff and reporters who travel with him, will fly to South Carolina on Tuesday afternoon before the polls close in Michigan. The campaign plans a “Michigan Election Night Watch Party” that evening in Charleston, S.C.

Thus far, presidential candidates have waited until after polls close before leaving the state they are trying to win.

A win in Michigan would obviously boost McCain’s candidacy, but it’s not seen as a do-or-die scenario as it is for his top rival here, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney has banked on winning early contests to build support for his campaign nationally, but so far came up short in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Romney said on CNN Sunday morning that he plans to stay in the race through Feb. 5 (when 22 states hold primaries) even if he doesn’t win Michigan, the state in which his dad served as governor in the 1960s. He will spend the night in Michigan after the results come in.

By jetting to South Carolina, McCain hopes to make a move on other Republican rivals, such as southerners Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson who have been concentrating on that state.

Of course, there could be another factor as well. It was 75 degrees and sunny when the campaign left Charleston for Michigan on Friday. Now in Michigan, it was 34 degrees and snowing.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton