The Race Heats Up

Tomorrow's South Carolina Republican presidential primary is getting dirtier, with all sorts of insinuating phone calls, nasty fliers, and other underhanded tactics. John McCain is bearing the brunt of the attacks, and while they're not as intense as the attacks leveled against him by George W. Bush in 2000, South Carolina is still crucial to his chances of getting the nomination.

Or is it? Mike Huckabee may very well pull out a victory here among evangelicals, but he may have a tougher time in Florida and other large states preparing to vote on February 5. Florida has its evangelical and military populations centered in the northern part of the state, but from Orlando to Miami the state is more diverse and cosmopolitan where McCain could pick up enough support to regain any momentum he loses if he fails to win in South Carolina. It looks like Rudolph Giuliani is done for, his aura of invincibility long since tarnished, and Fred Thompson may withdraw as soon as the results from tomorrow's primary are in. That would leave McCain, Huckabee, and Mitt Romney - who's conceded South Carolina but is still a viable candidate - as the three top favorites for the nomination.

By the way, does anyone notice that Mike Huckabee is campaigning a lot with Chuck Norris? A guy who believes in the Prince of Peace campaigning with an actor known for violent action movies?

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is still acting like the dowager empress in waiting who is offended - nay, insulted - that someone would actually contest her for the Democratic presidential nomination. Barack Obama is hanging onto a lead in tomorrow's Nevada caucuses, but even more interesting is his comfortable (for now) lead in South Carolina in advance of next week's Democratic primary. He's not only ahead of Hillary among blacks, he's also ahead among those who comprise Hillary's core constituency - women. John Edwards is still in third place in polls in both states, but he's still winning enough delegates to possibly be a factor at the convention and play the role of kingmaker - or at least get some of his policy proposals in the Democratic platform.

Oh yeah, Edwards still gets no respect from the press. PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" showed extended excerpts of comments from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama without voice-over commentary on Wednesday but showed a quick clip of Edwards speaking with a voice-over explaining where he was without regard to what he said. Last night they showed extended clips of Clinton and Obama speaking with no clip of Edwards at all. His populist message can win him the Presidency, and the elitist, anti-populist mainstream media know it.