Five Points

Romney Goes South of the Border

Anyone who drives along I-95 should realize I mean south of the line between the two Carolinas, not all the way to Mexico (where his father was born, incidentally). The thought of a presidential candidate visiting Pedro Land near Dillon, SC, is amusing, anyway.

While I was in South Carolina on a business trip, the Republican presidential hopefuls met in Columbia, SC, for a "debate" sponsored by Fox News. As it happened, I did not have time to stop and observe, but one thing was apparent -- Romney's campaign is already planting yard signs along the Interstate exits.

I have to wonder if this was simply in connection with his appearance at the debate, or if this presages another outreach to evangelicals, coming to this very conservative state from his recent visit to Regent University (formerly CBN University, founded by Pat Robertson, and home of the law school formerly hosted by Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma). Certainly this is the group Romney will have to convince if he's going to gain an edge over Giuliani and McCain -- or the undeclared Fred Thompson, for that matter.

What's next? A visit to Bob Jones University? Seems like McCain did that last time and got castigated for his pains. Maybe Romney should head to BJU's more mainstream neighbor, Furman, if that's his strategy -- but then, he couldn't get much more conservative than BJU, and he's got a lot of ground to make up already.

Labels: Election 2008

posted by Hal @ 7:32 AM