Southern exposure

Campaign '08 | It’s a long way to the primary, but Giuliani gained traction in South Carolina debate | Jamie Dean

No Republican has ever won the GOP presidential nomination without first winning the South Carolina primary. So how tough would it be to capture the nomination without the support of evangelicals in South Carolina? Neal Thigpen, a political science professor at Francis Marion University near Florence, S.C., recently told Cox News it would be "as tough as chewing on a nickel steak."

Rudy Giuliani has already taken the first bite. At a news conference last month at South Carolina's Statehouse, the Republican candidate defended his approval of using public money for abortions, and dismissed concerns that he might lose votes over his pro-abortion views: "If that's the most important thing, then I'm comfortable with the fact that you won't vote for me."