Hilary will skip South Carolina most of the week, according to this nice scoop from the New York Observer, in order to campaign in California, Arizona, New Mexico, New Jersey and New York, all February 5th states.
The campaign isn’t totally abandoning the South Carolina, apparently Bill and Chelsea will be here tomorrow. But, clearly, she’s not exactly fighting for every Palmetto State vote. And while she’s leading Edwards 32% to 14% in a Real Clear Politics average of South Carolina polls (behind Obama’s 43%), abandoning it risks placing third. And Edwards is certainly not giving up on his home state. He today announced an eight-stop two-day barnstorm across the state with actor Danny Glover, Congressman Heath Shuler, former Congressman and Dukes of Hazzard star Ben “Cooter” Jones and Bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley.
The move comes after she missed walking in today’s MLK march because of a scheduling snafu that had her press and plane waiting for her 90 minutes on the tarmac in New York. It also begs the question: is Hillary giving up on the black vote?