A STATE MORE LIKE THE REST OF THE NATION?

South Carolina Takes Spotlight in Democrats' Race for 2004 (ADAM NAGOURNEY, May 3, 2003, NY Times)

Forget Iowa and New Hampshire. South Carolina has become the hot new early primary state for the Democratic Party. Voters here are bracing for what may be the most contested, and potentially influential, Democratic presidential primary the state has seen in years.

Today, this city was buzzing with contenders and their aides at a premier event, the annual fish fry, in a downtown garage. On Saturday, the nine Democratic contenders gather downtown for their first campaign debate, a choice that is testimony to this state's growing prestige.

South Carolina is the lone state that every major Democratic contender is planning to play to win; no better-than-expected second-place finishes allowed here. At least six have laid out plausible cases for why they could finish first, which suggests that this could end up the most competitive primary of 2004. [...]

"It makes this state, and it makes the African-American vote in this state, very important to this presidential race," Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, said today after appearing at a commemoration for Vietnam veterans with a contender, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a Vietnam veteran. [...]

For all the attention on the state, South Carolina will not be the only state holding a contest on Feb. 3, and it will thus not have the primacy that Democratic leaders here were hoping for a few weeks ago. Five other states - Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico and Oklahoma - have also set primaries or caucuses for that day, a bit of leapfrogging that has knocked this state down a rung or two on the influence ladder. [...]

The Rev. Al Sharpton of New York, who is black, argued that he could slip in through a multicandidate field.

"It's important because it's the South," Mr. Sharpton said, "and it's important, because it's the most diverse voting population in the early primaries."

David Brooks had an amazing factoid on NPR yesterday: the number of people wo can name at least one Democratic candidate has fallen over the past few months from 37% to 31%. Given the field, that number may well keep going down as they get more and more exposure. To see them campaign is to feel the urge to expunge the memory from your mind. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 3, 2003 5:45 AM