August 22, 2006 in Nation/World

South Carolina key for Democrats, too

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Associated Press photo

Former North Dakota Gov. Art Link, left, shakes hands with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Bismarck, N.D., this month.
(Full-size photo)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – South Carolina, already a big player in Republican presidential contests, is poised to play a pivotal role in the Democratic race.

The Democratic National Committee has made the Palmetto State one of the first battlegrounds of 2008. Its Jan. 29 primary is scheduled to follow caucuses in Iowa and Nevada and come a week after the New Hampshire primary.

Some analysts say the new schedule could boost the candidacy of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. A South Carolina native, he’s scheduled to appear at a party fundraiser tonight in Columbia.

He’ll be the latest in a parade of potential presidential hopefuls from both parties. Republicans have flocked to the state in anticipation of its traditional first-in-the-South primary, set for Feb. 2, 2008.

“It gives them a double punch,” Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said of South Carolina voters. “They could be critical to both parties.”

Democrats moved up South Carolina and Nevada in an effort to broaden the demographic makeup of voters in the early selection contests.

Iowa and New Hampshire, the traditional starters, are overwhelmingly white. By contrast, nearly a quarter of Nevada voters are Latino. And almost half the Democratic voters in South Carolina are African American.

In 2004, South Carolina Democrats voted in early February but shared the stage with voters in six other states.

Edwards won South Carolina. But that made little dent after U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts won four contests that day.

Kerry is among a handful of prominent Democrats who have visited South Carolina this year, along with Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Tom Vilsack of Iowa, former Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware is scheduled to visit Greenville, S.C., on Wednesday. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York isn’t expected to stump until her re-election campaign ends in November.

Bayh is even paying a staff member for the South Carolina Democratic Party.

But the new calendar could play to Edwards’ advantage.

A June poll by the Des Moines Register showed him running ahead of all likely challengers among likely Iowa caucus-goers. Edwards also has support in Nevada from organized labor.

“Edwards is going to be a real player here if he wants to,” said Jon Ralston, a Las Vegas-based political analyst.

Edwards, who has cultivated labor support around the country, has rallied with Nevada unions in support of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage. A big player is the Culinary Workers local, which represents 60,000 workers in the gambling industry. It is affiliated with UNITE HERE, a merger of unions representing textile and hospitality workers. UNITE endorsed Edwards in 2004.

“If (Edwards) does well in Iowa and knows in a couple contests he’ll be back in the South, that would make it easier for the Edwards campaign,” said Washington-based analyst Stuart Rothenberg.

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