Republican South Carolina Primary - Prediction Time!graphics8.nytimes...
Republican South Carolina Primary - Prediction Time!
Made popular 1949 days ago in Politics
nytimes.com — The pressure is mounting for Republican candidates to show staying power in the presidential primary race.

After three major contests with three different winners, Republicans are deep in a scramble for South Carolina's primary Saturday, with Mitt Romney the latest to take a victory lap. "I'm not making predictions about what's going to happen in every other state, but I'm feeling pretty darn good at this point," he said, coming off of a much-needed win in his native Michigan.

Tony Piscatella has been busy shopping for a Republican presidential candidate to support. On Tuesday, he stopped in to hear Mitt Romney at a town hall meeting in Summerville. The next morning, he drove to nearby Mount Pleasant to hear Fred D. Thompson at a diner. Afterward, he said he would probably give Mr. Thompson the edge but wanted to hear more.

"He's a Southerner," said Mr. Piscatella, who lives in Summerville. "He's got our traditional values at heart."

With his Southern roots and drawl, Mr. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, would seem to be the man to beat in South Carolina's Republican primary on Jan. 19; he leads in most polls, and many political observers see his candidacy either rising or falling on how he does in the state. But Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, has shown surprising strength in the state, running first or second in many surveys. Mr. Romney began blanketing the state with television commercials last month. And Senator John McCain of Arizona is now largely focused on New Hampshire and this state to propel his campaign.

In the contest for the Republican presidential nomination, South Carolina, more than perhaps any other early voting state, is shaping up as a pivotal battleground where each of these four candidates believes he has a solid shot of winning. Since 1980, each victor in South Carolina has gone on to become the Republican nominee.

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Posted by Jon70
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Who do you predict will win the Republican South Carolina Presidential Primary?
Mike Huckabee
27%
John McCain
17%
Fred Thompson
35%
Rudy Giuliani
1.9%
Ron Paul
9.3%
Mitt Romney
10%
Duncan Hunter
0.3%
This is not a scientific survey, click here to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding and voting descrepencies.
User Comments
JBeal
Posted 1948 days ago
0 up votes, 0 down votes
Fred will come out of his shell, making the GOP field even murkier
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