SOUTH CAROLINA DEBATE - HUCKABEE, FAIR TAX , MCCAIN ARRIVES AND CANDIDATE SUPPORTERS CONFLICT

The last two hours have been so full of activity it was impossible to break away to write a post. The Fair Tax Rally started marching. While the crowd was not the 5, 000 expected a respectable number that was estimated at nearly 1, 000 marched in front of the Myrtle beach Convention Center. Carrying signs for the Fair Tax and chanting, "end the IRS, " the large crowd marched for 30 minutes stopping, ironically in a Wachovia Bank parking lot.
There they awaited the arrival of mike Huckabee whose campaign bus finally arrived to the cheers of the crowd. Huckabee staffers then began setting up sound systems and preparing the back of a red Chevy pick up waiting on the candidate to appear.
Huckabee then surprised everyone showing up in a Crown Victoria again to the cheers of the crowd as , "Sweet Home Alabama, " blasted from the PA. Huckabee climbed into the bed of the pick up and addressed the large crowd, calling for supporters to get out the vote and for those who were not voting for him to, "flatten their tires so they couldn't get to the polls."
Huckabee spoke for about ten minutes about the Fair Tax and how a candidate does not need large amounts of money to win the White House, and obvious reference to Mitt Romney. Huckabee then left for the Convention Center across the street to prepare for the debate.

John McCain arrived at the Convention Center to the cheers of his supporters, waving and shaking hands but not stopping to make any speech. He quickly left the cheers for the quiet of the Convention Center and the Debate.

While awaiting Huckabee's arrival for the Fair Tax rally, we had opportunity to witness several Romney and Paul supporters get into a heated argument about their candidates with the Paul supporters actually trying their best to further anger the situation and almost picking a fight. The leader of the Romney group stepped in a calmed the situation quickly calmed the situation down.

I also had opportunity to speak to several Huckabee supporters and questioned their reason for supporting the former Arkansas Governor. Most stated the right to life issue only and the fair Tax for those supporters. When pressed concerning Huckabee's tax and spend record in Arkansas ans his liberal stance on in State tuition for illegals , each on without exception went back to the single issue that has them supporting Huckabee . If these supporters are any indication, Huckabee followers, at least in South Carolina are single issue voters.

We are now by design limited to the filing room and the spin room for the duration of the debate . While much is happening reporting on it will be harder now that we are limited in our area at the Convention Center. Stay tuned and as news merits I will be posting as often as possible.

Ken Taylor