Romney Draws Large Crowds, McCain Blood in SC

By Mike DeVine - Legal Editor
02/07/2007

Excerpts from The (Columbia) State newspaper:

Mitt Romney's assignment in the 2008 S.C. Republican presidential primary is simply this: Derail John McCain's "Straight Talk Express." If there were any doubts about Romney's mission, they were erased during the former Massachusetts governor's two-day visit to the state last week.

Romney will not have to work too hard to derail a train that derailed itself here in the Palmetto State six years ago despite Granite State Big Mo, when GOP sandlappers saw how crooked was the talk from the Straight locomotive.

Romney attracted large, enthusiastic crowds at stops in Charleston, Aiken and Columbia. It was a shot in the arm for his campaign.

How remarkable is this? More than a year before the first primary, a former Massachusetts governor/Mormon draws such crowds in a land the MSM deems a bigotted Baptist backwash. The MSM didn't cover the Romney tour, much as they don't cover a historically qualified war in Iraq.

Romney's chief rival in South Carolina is McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona who leads in the polls here and enjoys the backing of the state's GOP establishment. Romney isn't impressed. Endorsements never elected anybody, he says. In the 2000 S.C. Republican presidential primary, McCain won 43 percent of the vote, losing to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Today, McCain is polling about 38 percent against Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

McCain has lost at least five percent of his followers and probably more, given the open primary system in SC.

Romney noted his foe from Arizona wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law that restricts certain types of contributions. "That's a terrible piece of legislation," Romney said. "It hasn't taken the money out of politics. ... (But) it has hurt my party." Conservative Christians, who make up a third of the GOP primary vote, oppose McCain-Feingold. But that's not all. McCain opposed President Bush's tax cuts, Romney noted. "I supported them," the former governor said. McCain believes the president's interrogation of terrorist detainees was a violation of the Geneva Accords. "I disagree with him," Romney said. Of the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill, Romney said, "I think it was a mistake."

McCain's record is his worst enemy. Romney's job is easy.