CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 17, 2008
Chaotic Republican Race Heads South
Polls Show Close Race For GOP In South Carolina, Democrats Seek Advantage In Nevada
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Play CBS Video Video Michigan Primary Deconstructed Only On The Web: Katie Couric, Bob Schieffer and Jeff Greenfield deconstruct the Michigan GOP primary and look ahead to South Carolina.
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Video Republicans Spar Before S.C. The South Carolina primary is infamous for being rough and tumble. The 2008 race is shaping up to be no different, and the leading GOP contenders are preparing for a tough fight. Nancy Cordes reports.
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Republican presidential hopeful, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, waves before he speaks at a campaign event at North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. (AP)
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Republican Presidential hopeful, Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson talks to supporters in Abbeville, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. (AP)
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks during a media availability in Las Vegas, Nev., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. (AP)
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., works the crowd at a town hall meeting in Henderson, Nev,, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008. (AP)
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News Tools Campaign Calendar The latest list of primary and caucus dates as states continue jockeying for position.
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In-Depth 2008 Presidential Hopefuls Profiles and the latest news on the Democrats and Republicans running for the White House.
In Nevada, Hillary Rodham Clinton again raised the topic of rival Barack Obama's lack of management experience, showing that their earlier truce on racial matters did not extend to other issues in a tight Democratic race. Polling in the state shows the two, and main rival John Edwards, in a statistical dead heat.
Republicans have had three winners in their first three major contests. John McCain, who won in New Hampshire, has led polls in South Carolina. But Mike Huckabee - a Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor - could get a boost from Christian evangelicals whose support helped him win in Iowa. And Romney has fresh momentum after his Michigan victory.
The latest polls show a close Republican race in South Carolina.
The state's Republican governor Mark Sanford says GOP voters are frustrated and picky this year, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.
"People are really going through the candidates with a fine tooth comb," Sanford said.
"It's going to be very interesting in South Carolina," CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer said. "Huckabee will have a constituency… McCain will have a constituency … And Thompson… he's going to get some votes."
"We still may be after South Carolina saying the same thing we're saying tonight - that it's still anybody's guess who's going to get the nomination," Schieffer adds.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, took the economic message that helped him in Michigan to South Carolina on Wednesday, swapping talk of resurrecting the auto industry with a pledge to pay attention to textile and other industrial job losses that have punished the South.
"I'm not willing to declare defeat on any industry where we can be competitive. I'm going to fight for every job," Romney said.
Romney, a millionaire businessman and former Massachusetts governor, captured his native Midwestern state of Michigan on Tuesday by offering hope to revive its beleaguered industrial economy.
Romney had 39 percent of the vote in Michigan. McCain had 30 percent and Huckabee 16 percent. No other Republican fared better than single digits.
McCain has been the latest front-runner in national polls, but leads have been changing frequently. He is banking in South Carolina on his three rivals splitting the far-right Republican vote and giving him an avenue among moderate Republicans who have moved into the traditionally conservative state in the last eight years.
McCain, a veteran U.S. senator and former prisoner of war in Vietnam, hopes for a strong showing thanks in part to his military background in a state with many military veterans.
He promised 100 supporters in Greenville on Wednesday that he would ensure better health care for active duty and retired service members.
McCain spoke in a state with a large population of veterans and reservists, including 1,500 National Guard troops serving in Afghanistan. McCain declared "we are succeeding in Iraq" and would not be if Democrats had their way.
RepublicanWatch Web-Only Video Of Katie Couric, Bob Schieffer And Jeff Greenfield Discussing The Campaign
Fred Thompson, the former "Law and Order" actor who has failed to muster much support in the early nomination contests, was making what could be his last stand in South Carolina. A former senator from the southern state of Tennessee, Thompson is battling Huckabee for the evangelical vote.
"Different people are winning these different major contests and I think a different person will win Saturday in South Carolina. No one has settled in on anyone," Thompson said.
While other Republicans had their sights set on South Carolina, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was campaigning in Florida, which votes Jan. 29, and where he hopes to realize his first win.
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A victory in Florida would boost Giuliani past his opponents when more than 20 states, including California and his home state, vote on Feb. 5. He was counting on support from New Yorkers who retired in Florida.No one has settled in on anyone.
In the Democratic field, Clinton, who won in New Hampshire; Obama, who secured a win in Iowa; and Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and vice presidential candidate, were locked in a tight race going into Nevada's caucuses, also on Saturday.
In Las Vegas on Wednesday, Clinton seized on Obama's acknowledged lack of management experience. She said she was taken aback by comments Obama made in a previous night's debate suggesting it was more important for a president to bring vision to the job than to make sure "paperwork is being shuffled effectively."
Clinton, who wants to be the U.S. first female president, and Obama, his sights set on becoming the country's first black president, were coming off a toned-down television debate Tuesday night in which they pledged to tamp down arguments between their camps over race.
The dispute focused on comments interpreted by Obama's camp as belittling slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s contributions to the movement, and raised fears among Democrats that infighting could damage the party's prospects for capturing the White House in the November general election.
Race, however, is expected to factor into the Democratic campaign, and some Clinton allies were already betraying worries about the impact of minority voters on her campaign in the state.
The concern was that thousands of Culinary Workers local members in Las Vegas, whose union has endorsed Obama, will attend caucuses conveniently located near their work places and hand him a victory. The union represents 60,000 employees, about 45 percent of them Latino, 30 percent white and 10 percent black.
It could also factor in South Carolina, where the South's first nomination contest is upcoming. Blacks are likely to account for at least half the electorate in South Carolina.
The state's most prominent black politician, Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, has not endorsed any of the contenders. But with his constituents likely to back Obama, he let his veil of neutrality slip recently with comments critical of Clinton.
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Add a Comment See all 23 Comments
- Well, at least the Republicans aren''t playing the race card like the dems have been doing. They (Democrats) and the media have been acting the bigot to no end...
Give it a rest already! - Reply to this comment
- Are Republicans really cloned from dog turds?
- Reply to this comment
- ''Chaotic Republican Race Heads South''
The republican race is no more ''chaotic'' than the dem race. More LAMEstream media bias showing its face. - Reply to this comment
- Word to the South--- look up all the candidates on Wikipedia before voting.
- Reply to this comment
- 1958-59, I think that''s about when the Kennedys gained power and their mindset set in...
MCVet, look at how many children are living without their fathers. Guiliani is a prime example as to WHY they are living a *** life; 3 wives? Do you support that? You''re pathetic! Look at all the cases, today, of STDs; your little hippy era is to thank for that. Look at all the abuse of young boys by adult men? Yet, the Dems want to make homosexual marriage/unions acceptable?
You are apparently older than me by about 10 years, judging you were (maybe) a vietnam vet. SO, I shouldn''t have to be telling you anything. You should know. UNLESS, of course, you''ve lived a sheltered life in your little condo there in the silicone valley with the rest of your flower power regime. - Reply to this comment
- Those aren''''t easy things for a politicians to say, but the truth is, the days are gone in Michigan and elsewhere when a high school graduate could land a factory job and count on a comfortable, stable middle-class life: a nice home, two cars, college tuition, health insurance and a pension.
Romney didn''''t talk about any of that.
Instead, he told voters what he thought they wanted to hear.
So what you are saying is that because the Fascist LIED to us, exported our jobs to Third World Countries and pretty much trashed our standard of living, we are dead last amoung the G-7 and sinking toward third world status you know, we should just take it? Sorry not a good answer. No I say if American''s aren''t good enough to make the products then American''s aren''t good enough to BUY those products. Screw the Multi Nationals and the rest. Let them try to get by without the American Consumer!! Sieg Heil Bush!! - Reply to this comment
- Seems like the lefties are spewing their Jim Crow white values. They are really doing quite a good job of it too.
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Posted by mudrose at 09:03 AM : Jan 17, 2008
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Please tell me YOU aren''t saying that Jim Crowe was the doing of "Lefties"? That will get your Swastika Hugging Butt LYNCHED! Come on Freak! Let''s get the day off to a good start here... lets get all your trash out of the way early. You folks out there can help here, we all know the lines, these poor fools haven''t had an orginal idea in 30 years. SO let''s go:
1. It''s all the fault of "Liberal''s" (ignore the fact that they were NOT in charge)
2. We should ignore the post of someone who does follow the Party because they are "Lib''s" (or part of the ACLU, a Union, Move-On, or any one of a Hundred hate targets they use).
3. It''s not Bush''s fault, blame Clinton.
4. The WMD''s are there it''s just a "Liberal" Plot.
5. Saddam was a bad man so he wasn''t involved with Bin Laden.
6. We should kill ALL muslims and stop blaming the fuhrer because Bin Laden hasn''t been caught.
Now the rest of you can add you''re own Blame or Excuse banter to this list. That way we get it all out of the way so we can have a Honest discussion of what our problems are. Sieg Heil Bush - Reply to this comment
- The Democratic party has abandoned the moral standards this country was founded on. It appears the majority of Americans have followed their lead. Now, in Guiliani, Romney, and McCain it appears the Republicans are doing the same.
Duncan Hunter is the ONLY candidate that qualifies for the seat in my opinion.
Huckabee is too suspect. I just don''''t know about him...
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Posted by Hwy71So at 09:00 AM : Jan 17, 2008
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So the Party of "Family Values" that just happened to give us the Toe Tappin Association is the party to establish Values. Since YOU claim the Democratic Party has abandoned the Values of this nation maybe you can help me out here. Give me a date SPECIFIC when you think those values were BETTER than today. Let''s look at that date, what as ACTUALLY going on as far as MORALS are concerned AND see what you Nazi''s were saying about us THEN! What do you say Swastika Breath... give me a date and lets debate!! :) Sieg Heil Bush!! - Reply to this comment
- I see no difference between being shackled by chains of iron
and being shackled by a monthly welfare check,
and we all know which party wants more welfare for us.
You take money from the man, and you got to follow
the mans rules, and that aint free
I will be voting republican from now on and will be urging
all my brothers and sisters to do the same.
no more democrats, be free, vote republican
SILENT NO MORE BLACK MAN
.
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Posted by frankIy6 at 09:12 AM : Jan 17, 2008
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ROFLMAO Right! Exactly what do you think Huckabee and the rest of these clowns were doing while all us "Lib''s" were marching with Dr. King to stop the lynching against Blacks? ROFLMAO Seig Heil Y''all. ROFLMAO - Reply to this comment
- Now we will start hearing the latest code words for intolerance, the first one being "values" (read; "White" values), closely followed by "freedom", (to abuse those of other ethnicity without being held responsible) and the ever popular "preserve our way of life" (return to Jim Crow).
It will be interesting to note from whom these codes come first, and which of the candidates screams them loudest.
Posted by brianbwb
Seems like the lefties are spewing their Jim Crow white values. They are really doing quite a good job of it too. - Reply to this comment
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
