LEXINGTON, S.C. — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is threatening to overtake Arizona Sen. John McCain in the first Southern test of the 2008 campaign, today’s Republican primary in South Carolina.
With unemployment and anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise, Huckabee, one of two Southerners in the race, has pulled even with McCain, according to the latest polling. McCain had led here since his victory in New Hampshire on Jan. 8.
“Being in South Carolina is like being at home,” Huckabee tells voters here. “You folks know how to eat catfish and grits, and (we) talk the same language.”
So does Fred Thompson, former senator from Tennessee. But he’s running far back despite pouring everything he’s got left into this state. Without a victory or close second-place finish today, said a top Thompson aide, it will be the end of the trail for the actor.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also lags, despite airing as many TV commercials as the rest of the field combined. Romney left earlier this week for Nevada, where his only competition in today’s caucuses is Ron Paul.
Reflecting, in part, the South’s dominance during the Reagan-Bush era, every winner here since 1980 has become the Republican nominee.
In 2000, this state was the turning point in George W. Bush’s fight with McCain, but this time, much of the party establishment is with McCain. So are former Bush voters like Jimmy Evans, 65, who sells real estate in Columbia, the state capital, and counted the late Sen. Strom Thurmond as a personal friend.
Evans finds a lot to like about all the contenders, including Huckabee, but thinks McCain would make the best commander-in-chief.
“If you can’t pass muster on foreign policy,” said Evans, “nothing else matters.”
McCain’s chances will depend, to a large extent, on whether voters are more concerned about fighting Islamic extremism abroad than outlawing abortion and gay marriage and deporting illegal immigrants.
Baptists are 40 percent of the population and evangelical Christians might cast two of every five primary votes.
Huckabee is targeting voters who are feeling the pinch of a weakening economy and a jobless rate that is the fourth highest in the nation.
Paul Cockrell, 54, of Gilbert, S.C., said he recently quit the heating and air-conditioning business, where competition from companies that employ illegal immigrants is costing jobs.
Cockrell wants a presidential candidate who will “start deporting the lawbreakers.” After concluding that McCain “doesn’t get it,” he’s leaning toward Huckabee.
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