It’s raining really hard this morning here in Columbia, and snow is expected in the socially conservative northern part of the state. All of this could put a damper on turnout, which has already shown signs of being pretty lackluster, with absentee balloting being no better than average in two of the three largest South Carolina counties. The political blog for The State, South Carolina’s largest paper, notes:
On the drive to the office this morning, I passed two precincts in Lexington County. There was one car in front of the Cromer precinct and about a half dozen in front of Oakwood. No campaign workers were standing across the street with signs backing their candidates. At 8:30 the morning of the last competitive Republican primary back in 2000, the parking lot at Cromer was packed and campaign workers lined the other side of Oak Drive.
Who does this help? Who does it hurt? Veteran South Carolina political reporter Lee Bandy thinks it helps Huckabee:
“His voters are more passionate and will turn out come hell or high water,” Mr. Bandy predicted.
But the worst of the weather will be hitting the part of the state where Huckabee is strongest.
UPDATE: Commenter Arr-squared gives us this report from the Myrtle Beach area:
Just got back from voting about 15 miles from Myrtle Beach. Cold rain here, pretty miserable for SC.
Tumbleweeds. 4 poll workers at my precinct, I was the only voter, though I think someone was pulling in after me. No campaigning of any type visible anywhere.
Any other SC Swampers out there? We’d love to hear what’s going on.
