Zogby: Dean takes slight edge in South Carolina

[CMT]

The South Carolina primary is looking tigth with six candidates within the margin of error of +/- 4.5%. Here are the latest numbers:

Dean: 11% (9% in Sept/ 4% in July)
Lieberman: 9% (8% in Sept and 13% in July)
Clark: 9% (2% in Sept)
Edwards 7% (10% in Sept, 5% in July)
Sharpton 7% (5% in Sept, 8% in July)
Gephardt 7% (4% in Sept, 8% in July)
Kerry 4% (8% in Sept, 5% in July)
Braun 3% (1% in Sept, 3% in July)
Kucinich 0.3%
Someone else: 5%
Not Sure 37%

Says Zogby: "This just underscores for me the importance of Iowa and New Hampshire as gatekeepers in this race. Any suggestion that the first two states are irrelevant this year is nonsense. Once the race takes shape after New Hampshire, the early winners will dominate and the early losers and non-contestants will more likely suffer."

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=764

Incidentally a new Florida poll out today indicates that both Dean and Clark would be our strongest candidates vs. Bush in Florida.

Dean loses to Bush 49-41, while Clark loses 48-40--both keep Bush under 50% and are within striking distance.

http://www.sptimes.com