LEXINGTON, S.C. — LEXINGTON, S.C. -- Mike Huckabee is threatening to overtake John McCain in the first Southern test of the 2008 campaign, today's Republican primary in South Carolina.
With unemployment and anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise, Huckabee, one of two Southerners in the race, has pulled even with McCain, according to the latest polling. The Arizona senator had led here since his victory in New Hampshire this month.
"Being in South Carolina is like being at home," Huckabee tells voters here. "You folks know how to eat catfish and grits, and [we] talk the same language."
So does Fred Thompson, from Tennessee. But he's running far back, despite pouring everything he's got left into this state. Without a victory or close second-place finish today, it will be the end of the trail for the former senator and actor, said a top aide.
Mitt Romney also lags badly, despite airing as many TV commercials as the rest of the field combined. Romney left earlier in the week for Nevada, where his only competition in today's caucuses is Ron Paul.
Democrats, whose South Carolina primary is a week away, are also holding caucuses in Nevada, where Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are in a close race.
For Republicans, this weekend's main event is South Carolina, a bellwether over the past quarter-century. Reflecting, in part, the South's dominance during the Reagan-Bush era, every winner here since 1980 has become the Republican nominee.
In 2000, this state was the turning point in George W. Bush's fight with McCain, but this time, much of the party establishment is with McCain. So are former Bush voters such as Jimmy Evans, who sells real estate in Columbia, the state capital, and who counted the late Strom Thurmond as a personal friend.
The 65-year-old finds a lot to like about all the contenders, including Huckabee, but thinks McCain would make the best commander in chief.
"If you can't pass muster on foreign policy," said Evans, "nothing else matters."
McCain's chances will depend, to a large extent, on whether voters are more concerned about fighting Islamic extremism abroad than outlawing abortion and gay marriage and deporting illegal immigrants.
Huckabee is targeting voters who are feeling the pinch of a weakening economy and a jobless rate that is the fourth-highest in the nation.
Paul Cockrell, 54, of Gilbert, S.C., said he recently quit the heating and air-conditioning business, where competition from companies that employ Hispanics is costing jobs.
