Fixin' to Head to Low Country, Y'all

POSTED BY Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith, 09 January 2008

Now through the New Hamshire loop, John Edwards, South Carolina's "Native Son," and the other candidates still in the race are making their way down to South Carolina. With a primary on Jan. 19, this battleground state will be hosting not only the campaigns but also a Republican debate Thursday organized by the state's Republican Party and FOX News.

This will be a defining moment for Giuliani who, having skipped major efforts in Iowa and New Hampshire, will be looking to get a win before he heads to Florida, a state he'll need to swing if he wants to remain viable.

A win for Giuliani in South Carolina would be nothing short of a modern-day miracle, though, as the Bible Belt GOP are expected to rally around their fellow southerner and preacherman, Mike Huckabee. Huck will be campaigning in conservative hotspots Greenville and Spartanburg before flying to Detroit on Friday, where he will address the influential Detroit Economic Club.

We might see an upset from Fred Thompson, though, who shifted his New Hampshire efforts to South Carolina where he has billed himself as the "Clear Conservative Choice." He's no stranger to South Carolina voters, either - it was only next door in Tennessee where Thompson got his political start. Today he's making his way through Sumter, Florence, Conway, and North Myrtle Beach trying to collect votes.

Mitt Romney, by contrast, isn't putting his efforts in to South Carolina right away; instead, he's heading home to his native Michigan, where his well-known family has long been active in state and local politics (his father was governor, after all) in preperation for that's state upcoming primary.

Ron Paul has announced no scheduled events in the area, but he will be in Myrtle Beach on Thursday.

On the Democratic side, the race stays tight and interesting:

Nativer John Edwards hopes to remind South Carolinians of his birthright by holding "welcome home" rallies today throughout the state - at noon at Clemson and this evening in Columbia (seat of the state university).

While Edwards visits South Carolina's universities, the master of the youth vote, Barack Obama, will be in New Jersey and New York. He's currently finishing up a "Rally for Change" in Jersey City, NJ, and will be in Manhattan for a high-roller fundraising event later this evening. He'll repeat the process tomorrow in Charleston.

Clinton, meanwhile, has no scheduled events today and is savoring the victory (or sleeping off exhaustion) at home in Chappaqua, NY. How South Carolina will feel about her has yet to be seen. Stay tuned to Veracifier for all your primary coverage throughout the election.