Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has become the clear frontrunner in South Carolina, scoring an eight-point lead in the latest CBS News poll. Former Governor Mitt Romney held a strong second place with 20 percent while Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Fred Thompson were all in the double-digits.
For Democrats, Barack Obama held a razor-thin one-point lead over Hillary Clinton. John Edwards was a very distant 21 points behind in third.
The poll was conducted among a 1319 registered South Carolina likely voters, including 599 likely Democrats and 447 likely Republicans, from Dec. 13-17.
REPUBLICANS
- Mike Huckabee, 28 percent
- Mitt Romney, 20 percent
- Rudy Giuliani, 12 percent
- Fred Thompson, 10 percent
DEMOCRATS
- Barack Obama, 35 percent
These numbers are pretty consistent with recent polls, which means the GOP race is likely going to stay a five-man race at least until the Iowa caucus. The Democrats, however, have essentially made this a two person race.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Democrats, Primary Season, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The Democratic race may be a two-person race, but it’s impossible to know until after Iowa. If Edwards pulls a Kerry-esque upset, then the entire race changes.
Same goes for the GOP race, to some degree. The campaign numbers don’t mean much until after Iowa.
I see SC as the lynchpin in the primaries. I was projecting Huckabee in Iowa, but he has started a little freefall after his record gains more scrutiny. Romney to win in NH. That leaves SC as pivotal going into the big day. I expect SC to get tighter as the Huckabee rebound brings him back to earth. That means you all will get the heavy hammering blitz to end all blitzes. My first choice was Newt, but since he opted out, I have really studied Romney, and like the National Review, I find there is truly something Regan like in him. Reading about how he closed down the firm to help rescue a partners daughter, made me think, “This is the guy to have as commander in chief should we have a soldier down behind enemy lines. He would move Heaven (no religious pun intended) and Earth to get a soldier back. He certainly knows what drives good jobs away from the US and we about all can agree many of our good jobs are gone. Bush and Clinton and Congress, just stand by and watch.
Like I said though, you guys are going to hit from every direction, especially by the Republicans.