News-Record.com

Update: Click here for Thursday's story.
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At least, it seems like I've covered a lot of ground here in South Carolina. I started my reporting day in Charleston and then moved on to Columbia. Right now, I'm sitting in a Greenville train station, waiting for a (late) Amtrak train to move me on up to Spartanburg, where I'm due to meet up with the Edwards campaign in the morning.

First, I should answer the question that will be waiting on my voice mail in the morning: Why am I spending time covering former N.C. Sen. John Edwards' campaign? After all, he's running third here, not making much of a blip in the national news stories, etc... (Usually, the messages will be laced with a few choice words, as well.)

The long and the short of it is this: Edwards is from North Carolina and we have an interest in the guy. The thought is that all our readers, those who support him and those who don't, would have an interest in how his campaign is going, who is working for him, etc...

And, as I mentioned, we haven't been getting a lot of good wire copy on the guy as of late, so it seemed reasonable to expend some resources and check in on the home-state kid.

Alright, for those who need more than the newspaper story for Thursday, the report from the road, in bullet form:

• * First off, I'm loving me some PDANet right now, which is letting my Palm serve as a modem for my laptop here beside the railroad tracks.

• * The Edwards campaign has called in Danny Glover to stump for their candidate. Glover does seem to have a genuine affinity for Edwards, sharing some of the same inclinations on unionization and health care.

  I guess one could be cynical and say that Glover was called in to South Carolina because the majority of the Democratic primary electorate is African American.

  Whatever the reason he's here, calling in Glover seems like a good move. People lined up to speak with him after he gave a stump speech at the Longshoremen's' union hall in Charleston.

• * There are at least a half-dozen folks from Greensboro that I've heard tell of working in South Carolina, and more from elsewhere in North Carolina. Featured in tomorrow's story is Cameron Allison, a graduate of Greensboro College (Political Science major, natch) and Southeastern Guilford High School.

  He will wind up his two-week tour in the state after Saturday's primary. He's done some canvassing and phone calls and it sounds like he has staffed a fair number of events.

• * Yes, there are undecided voters in South Carolina. I met several (six, I think). If Edwards has a strategic hope, it's that a lot of those who called themselves undecided didn't really like what they saw from Obama and Clinton in Monday night's debate.

• * As the Edwards event was wrapping up at the union hall, some Obama supporters came in to canvass for voters.

  The big draw for Obama's crew was Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has become something on a national figure both in his own right and a surrogate for Obama.

  Now, the longshoremen I saw weren't exactly a burley lot but they were certainly pretty big physically relative to, say, most of the accountants I know. Let's just say they were all looking up to Booker.

  I didn't get a chance to listen in much, but there was quite a bit of nodding.

• * Bill Clinton was making an appearance near by on behalf of his wife, but I didn't have time to stick around for that.

• * Columbia is in full on convention mode. Banners hanging from the light polls there proudly proclaim "Columbia Welcomes You to the 2008 Presidential Primaries." And I wasn't the only reporter using a couch and electric socket in the lobby of the downtown Marriot.

• * My main mission in Columbia was to meet up with a Greensboro resident named Chad Hawk, but we were never in the same place at the same time. I did, however, get a chance to stop by Edwards' field office there.

  For those who have never visited a campaign field office, this one was typical: half frat house, half office depot and half (yes, three halves, that's part of the charm) military bunker.

  Printers get propped up on two cardboard paper boxes, volunteers wield a cell phones and landlines to encourage folks to go vote, others are dispatched to canvass neighborhoods complete with maps and lists of doors to knock on.

• * I had a chance to ride around with David Wright, a campaign volunteer who flew in from Hawaii, where he's been visiting with his girlfriend, Stephanie. He's in my story, so you can read about him there some.

  Wright is a big dude and was sent out to pick up a couple of fellow campaign workers in another volunteer's car.

  "I've never driven a Lexus before," he said in what I would call an Alabama drawl, if that's not a mixed metaphor. Once he moved his seat back far enough so his knees weren't in the middle of the steering wheel, he did just fine.

• * I talked to Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat and Edwards supporter, on the phone as I drove from Columbia to Greenville. She's headed down to help out the campaign Thursday.

• * Overall, the impression I got from the Edwards campaign workers on the ground and those headed here is that they believe Edwards is still in the fight, not fighting for a VP spot or to play kingmaker or any of that stuff. They absolutely believe he can win and are hoping South Carolina serves as a launching point for the remainder of his campaign.

  For the moment, I'm not inclined to argue with them, although the polling in South Carolina still puts Edwards behind Obama and Clinton. New Hampshire taught us a little bit about polling. Now, the results on Saturday night might make me a bit more skeptical, depending on what they are.

Up next: riding with the campaign on Thursday. If all goes well, I should have something in Friday's paper on that. Meanwhile, if anyone sees the train to Spartanburg, send it my way, will ya?

Update: After a later-than-scheduled train ride, walk and a taxi ride, I've arrived at what I'm told is the outskirts of Spartanburg. I really can't tell for sure, since the fog precluded even a night-time tour of the place. Two final notes:

• * If appearances are to be believed, Edwards is not traveling as a fiscal conservative. The digs here at the Radisson Spartanburg are pretty nice.

• * My cab driver, who sported a mullet of epic proportions, said he was a registered Republican and a Fred Thompson supporter. When he learned I was here to follow the Edwards campaign, he said, "Yeah, John Edwards, he's a Democrat. I don't know why he's not doing better because those other two, boy ... " Then he just sort of laughed. Apparently, he wasn't impressed much by Monday's debate.