Presidential Politics

As much as I dislike some elements of the primary system (mainly the fact that many states really have no choice in their parties nominee), there is something uniquely American about politicians visiting states like New Hampshire and Iowa that most of them would never bother with otherwise.

Here is an article about all the politicians visiting South Carolina, another early primary state. Some interesting polling data from that article:

In a hypothetical November matchup, McCain beats Clinton, 52-32 percent, in South Carolina.

The problem with that poll (besides being so early) is it means nothing if Sen. Clinton is not the Democrat nominee. There are many people who would hold their nose and vote for McCain due to their strong disdain for the junior senator from New York. However, if a less polarizing figure like Mark Warner received the Democratic nomination then McCain's support will drop precipitously. To most Republicans McCain is perceived as more of a Media-crat than Republican or Democrat. We don't like politicians who seem more concerned with staying in Tim Russert's good graces than doing the right thing. Also, not many Republicans have forgiven him for the anti-First Amendment McCain-Feingold legislation.

In related news, the Governor of Arkansas is visiting South Carolina for some reason.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has been mentioned as a possible contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, came to Spartanburg on Monday night to give the keynote address at the GOP's county convention.

Huckabee's main obstacle is that you could ask 100 people at random "Who is Mike Huckabee?" and less than 5 would correctly identify him.