RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
You get a sense of how the Republican presidential candidates are tweaking their strategies by following the latest moves of one. Mitt Romney lost in Iowa and New Hampshire. He really wants to win Michigan, which votes next week, and he's cutting back his efforts in another early contest. Romney has pulled his ads in South Carolina, which is not ideal ground for several candidates but it's hard for them to entirely ignore. All the Republican contenders do show up in South Carolina tonight for a chance to debate on Fox News.
NPR's Brian Naylor reports in the first southern state to vote.
BRIAN NAYLOR: In South Carolina, the Republican presidential candidates face a much different climate from that of Iowa and New Hampshire. Arriving in Spartanburg yesterday, Mike Huckabee was quite happy about that.
Mr. MIKE HUCKABEE (Former Republican Governor, Arkansas; Presidential Candidate): We haven't seen anything but ice and snow for the past three weeks, and it sure is good to get down to the South, ladies and gentlemen...
(Soundbite of cheering)
Mr. HUCKABEE: ...see some green grass.
NAYLOR: For Huckabee, the political climate may be warmer as well. Independents won't be able to take part in the primary and the dominant block among the state's registered Republican voters is that of evangelical Christians - the same kind of voters who strongly supported the former Baptist minister in Iowa. So Huckabee, who led in the most recent polls here, has good cause to be optimistic.
Mr. HUCKABEE: Because I believe that here in South Carolina it's going to be the place where we'll continue the momentum that we've seen in this campaign and we're going to take it all the way from here on to Florida and ultimately the White House. But South Carolina is going to be a turning point in this nomination process, and you're going to be a part of a great piece of history.
(Soundbite of applause)
NAYLOR: The candidate coming into South Carolina with the most momentum - Senator John McCain - winner of the New Hampshire primary, may also be the one with the most to lose here. He spoke at the Citadel in Charleston last night.
Senator JOHN McCAIN (Republican, Arizona; Presidential Candidate): This election here in South Carolina will play a major, major role in who the next president of the United States is. And for a long, long time now, the selection of the people of South Carolina have been the determining factor. So I'm asking for your vote. I won't let you down.
NAYLOR: But South Carolina also has a history of being inhospitable to McCain. Eight years ago, as now, he came here after winning in New Hampshire. And that time he lost to George Bush after a nasty campaign characterized by vicious personal attacks. This time McCain's biggest problem may not be a rival candidate but an issue: immigration. Analysts say it's the hot button issue here, and McCain has angered many Republicans by supporting an immigration proposal in the Senate that critics charged was amnesty.
Fred Thompson has also been active in the state, embarking on a two-day bus tour and taking on rival Mike Huckabee by name, linking him to a well-known teachers union, the National Education Association.
Mr. FRED THOMPSON (Former Republican Senator, Tennessee; Presidential Candidate): We're going to get a little - in a little discussion here the next few days, you know, as to who's the true conservative, I guess, as far as our record is concerned. And Governor Huckabee and I have had some discussions, and all I say is that I received the national endorsement of the National Right to Life folks and he received the national endorsement of NEA. I rest my case.
(Soundbite of applause)
NAYLOR: Thompson's aides hope the former Tennessee senator's folksy drawl and deliberate pace will find favor among his fellow Southerners. In the end, says Walter Edgar, director of the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina, McCain's fate may rest with the undecided.
Professor WALTER EDGAR (University of South Carolina): These undecided voters may decide to jump to him, because a lot of the undecided, I think you would say, are the suburban Republicans, some of whom would have been from McCain before but, you know, some might be backing Giuliani, but there's not a - I can't say a real enthusiasm for Giuliani here.
NAYLOR: One Republican South Carolina voters won't be seeing much of is Mitt Romney. He had been running ads in the state as recently as Tuesday, talking about trade and economic issues. But after his loss in New Hampshire, Romney decided to place all his eggs in Michigan, where his father was an auto executive and three-term governor. Michigan holds its primary Tuesday, just four days before South Carolina's.
Brian Naylor, NPR News, Charleston, South Carolina.