South Carolina and the Presidency

South Carolina normally would not be considered a powerhouse in national politics--a least not in terms of perception. That is about to change.

The state will host one of the earliest primaries in the nation in 2008, and thus, candidates in both Parties have already been frequent visitors to the Palmetto state.

Sensing that the state is crucial in garnering the required number of delegate votes at the political Conventions, candidates are not leaving anything to chance. Republican Duncan Hunter announced his Presidential bid here. Ron Paul has been here twice. So have Hillary and Obama.

Yet South Carolina is actually more crucial to the Republican candidates than that of the Democrats. The state is now thoroughly Republican. Both of its U.S. Senators are Republicans. So is the Governor. The state legislature is controlled by Republicans.

Thus, this is a test state for the Republicans. Whoever wins here will more than likely win the Party's nomination for the White House.

Although S.C.'s U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint belong to the same Party, the two are actually as different as night and day. Graham is solidly behind McCain and has been rumored to be a potential running mate for the Arizona Senator, should he win the nomination.

Graham has also created some enemies for himself among the Party faithful here, with his front-lines support of the McCain-Ted Kennedy-George Bush immigration amnesty plan.

Rumors are that the Senator may be in trouble during his next re-election campaign, and he already has some opposition from two Republican candidates who are intent on wresting the nomination away from Graham.

Jim DeMint, on the other hand, has become a favorite of the Party faithful in S.C. with his staunch opposition to the amnesty bill that Graham supported. DeMint also supports Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, although his backing has not helped the candidate move to the top of the pack.

Duncan Hunter, Mike Huckabee, and Rudy Giuliani have strong support in the state, but polls have shown that South Carolina will probably go to Fred Thompson, assuming that Thompson will declare his candidacy.

On the Democratic side, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have shown solid support among Democrats in the state. Despite John Edwards' strong ties here and his upbringing in neighboring North Carolina, he has not been able to create very much excitement for his campaign.

In all likelihood, the candidates who win South Carolina will be their Party's nominee for the Presidency. At this point it would appear that those candidates will be Fred Thompson and Hillary Clinton.

And thus, South Carolina will have a large hand in choosing the next President.