Even though he lags well behind John McCain going into Saturday’s open South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney likes his chances in 12 of the next 22 GOP races because they are limited to registered Republicans.
“McCain can no longer find electoral refuge in primaries that allow Democrats and Independents to boost his chances,” Romney spokesman Kevin Madden told The Examiner. “Increasingly, these contests are showing us that Republicans are looking for a nominee who can be the standard-bearer.”
Among Republicans who voted in Michigan’s primary Tuesday, Romney beat McCain 41 to 27 percent, according to an exit poll by Fox News. Among voters who described themselves as conservative, Romney won 41-23. Romney also beat McCain among voters worried about the economy, which is rapidly displacing Iraq as the top campaign issue.
McCain has a 10-point lead over Romney inSouth Carolina, which allows Democrats and Independents to vote in the Republican primary as in Michigan (won by Romney) and New Hampshire (won by McCain).
“John McCain is way in the lead there, but we’ll give him a run for his money,” Romney told CBS. “I’d love to pick up some portion of the delegates, if I could, and maybe pull off some kind of a surprise.”
In Nevada, which holds its caucuses the same day, only Republicans are allowed to vote in the GOP contest. Romney is ahead in one recent GOP poll in Nevada, and McCain is ahead in another.
McCain adviser Mark McKinnon said Romney won Michigan only after promising an enormous bailout for the state’s ailing economy. McKinnon called this a “huge pander to Michigan voters, and I think that’s going to haunt him in the future states.”
McKinnon added that McCain has “got the kind of military history and vast foreign policy and security experience that really appeals to the huge veteran community that’s there in South Carolina.”
McCain and Romney are not the only Republicans criticizing each other in the run-up to the South Carolina contest. Also tangling are Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa, and Fred Thompson, who is hoping for his first victory Saturday.
“Frankly, if he doesn’t win South Carolina, I don’t see how he goes on,” Huckabee said of Thompson. “He got completely tanked in New Hampshire and in Michigan.”
Thompson hinted that Huckabee’s campaign was behind a “push poll” that was critical of Thompson in South Carolina. He even seemed to impugn Huckabee’s masculinity.
“When I have a problem with somebody,” Thompson told Fox, “I do it man to man, face to face, and we can have a discussion about it.”
