From The Morning Grind
The South Carolina Republican Party will host a presidential debate in May 2007, the first so far scheduled in the wide-open 2008 race for the White House.
Katon Dawson, chairman of the South Carolina GOP, made the announcement Thursday at the Republican National Committee's summer meeting in Minneapolis. The Republican debate, scheduled for May 15, will be held at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Dawson also repeated the state GOP's vow to hold the first Republican presidential primary in the South.
"South Carolina has proven to be a great testing ground for presidential candidates and a launching pad to the White House," Dawson said in announcing the debate.
South Carolina Republicans point out that since 1980 no GOP presidential candidate has lost the Palmetto State primary and gone on to win the Republican presidential nomination. Already, potential 2008 presidential candidates have been making pilgrimages to the state to meet with influential Republican leaders in the party. This weekend, a handful of governors eyeing White House bids are shoehorning in political events around the National Governors Association meeting in Charleston.
"The presidential race has been on for at least a year, so it is probably time for us to have a formal event kicking off the contest," chuckled Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report.
The South Carolina Democratic Party has not indicated whether they will hold an early debate for Democratic presidential candidates. But later this month, the Democratic National Committee is expected to ratify a plan that would grant South Carolina Democrats an early position on the party's presidential nominating calendar in January 2008.
