Clinton, Edwards Less Focused on South Carolina

[draft_mario_cuomo]

This is interesting. I am surprised to see HRC being outspent 4-to-1 by Obama here. South Carolina is`the only state aside from his home state that the Illinois senator leads. Obama is trying to make it his firewall state if he loses Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire. Thus far he has been extremely successful and led in two of the last three SC polls (although he was third in the last one, 1 point behind Edwards but 16 points behind HRC). If Obama loses Iowa, Nevada, and NH, a HRC victory in SC could deal a de facto knockout blow to the Obama campaign, Clinton's biggest threat. Why? Simple: money, money, money. If Obama has decent momentum heading into Super Tuesday he can outspend HRC in the national primary. Super Tuesday will largely be won through momentum, free media coverage based on success in the early primaries, and advertising. Obama is the only candidate who can compete with her in advertising but he will need the first two things to be able to produce any significant results with his money. Edwards and Richardson would both be financially handicapped against HRC on Super Tuesday if eitger emerged as the alternative to HRC. They would have to rely on momentum and free media coverage to compete against HRC.

Clinton, Edwards Less Focused on South Carolina

"A review of campaign spending on staff salaries" suggests that Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards "are less focused on South Carolina than they are on other early primary and caucus states," reports The Hill.

"Black voters are expected to make up about half of the voters in South Carolina’s Democratic Party, which may have persuaded Clinton and Edwards to concentrate their resources in other states, such as Nevada, which has a strong union presence and growing Hispanic population."

In total, Barack Obama spent $480,000 in the Palmetto State, Edwards spent $221,000, and Clinton spent $120,000.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2007/07/17/clinton_edwards_less_focused_on_south_carolina.html