John Edwards poll numbers in South Carolina having been rising since the Myrtle Beach debate on Monday, and on Friday, The State newspaper of Columbia (biggest in the state) writes:
"Watch John Edwards. With only a day left before Saturday’s S.C. Democratic presidential primary, the former U.S. senator from North Carolina and S.C. native is making a move, tracking polls suggest."
The Reuters/Zogby poll found Edwards gaining 4 percentage points merely from Wednesday to Thursday. He's picking up white males from Hillary Clinton (an 8 point swing) and from next to nothing to 5 percent of African Americans from Obama.
Pollster John Zobgy says of the SC race, "There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear." (Ain't? I didn't know Zogby was a Southerner."
UPDATE: Big question mark on polls: An open primary state, with only 440,000 voting in last week's Republican Primary, compared to 575,000 voting in 2000. So there are 135,000 people who voted Republican in 2000 and didn't vote Republican last Saturday. That number doesn't even account for a growing population in the last 7 years. Tons of voters are probably not being polled at all in this race.
The State reports that three polls released Thursday all showed high numbers of undecided voters in the state, with Edwards support rising.
"According to the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll, Edwards has gained 4 percentage points since Wednesday and is the choice of 19 percent of likely voters. Obama maintains the S.C. lead at 39 percent but his lead is down 4 percentage points over Clinton from a day earlier.
"Clinton logged in at 24 percent. That puts Edwards, who desperately needs a victory Saturday, in a statistical tie with Clinton for second place."
Full Story here:
http://www.thestate.com/...
Also, the State's political Blog reports:
"Edwards: Look for a 'surprise' in vote"
"Former N.C. Sen. John Edwards said he thinks there is an " opportunity for a surprise" in Saturday's Democratic presidential primary.
"We've got a lot of energy and momentum right now," he told a crowd of about 200 people today at a young voters' rally in Columbia.
"The Seneca native drew a large press corps to the Columbia event, where he said he also is seeing larger and more enthusiastic crowds around the state, heading into his last day of campaigning in the Palmetto State.