MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I?m Michele Norris.
MELISSA BLOCK, Host:
And I?m Melissa Block.
Tomorrow, it?s the Democrats? turn in South Carolina. Last Saturday, the Republicans held their primary and the focus was on veterans and evangelical voters. For the Democrats, South Carolina is the first state where black voters will be key. It?s expected that at least half of tomorrow?s electorate will be African-Americans.
NORRIS: After more than a week of sometimes nasty attacks between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both campaigns made an effort today to tone down their rhetoric. But the bad blood could benefit the third candidate in the race, John Edwards. He was born in South Carolina and won the primary in 2004. We have reporters tracking all three candidates.
First, we turn to Audie Cornish. She?s with the Obama campaign in Charleston, South Carolina.
AUDIE CORNISH: Senator Obama, who is leading in the polls here, spent this last day before the primary not sparring with the Clintons for a change, but reaching out to female voters.
NORRIS: All these issues - changing our tax code, expanding Family and Medical Leave Act, making sure that people have health care they can count on. All these issues are issues that we can fix, but we?re going to have to fix how Washington operates in order to do it.
CORNISH: Mostly known for speaking before large crowds, Obama has been holding a series of intimate, some might call them staged events, like this one at a Charleston deli. The restaurant was empty, except for several reporters as well as three voters who engaged the candidate in a conversation about health care.
About a dozen people, who heard Obama was in town, were standing outside the deli hoping to catch a glimpse.
NORRIS: I tried to get in. I tried to tell the Secret Service, I was an educator. Please let me in.
CORNISH: Didn?t happen. But the senator did come over to shake Judy Trotter?s hand.
NORRIS: I like that his energy, his youthfulness, the young family, reaching to young people. I think he?s able to reach out and bring more people in.
CORNISH: Trotter says she?s definitely supporting Obama. But Sandra Turner(ph), a manager at a nearby toy store who is also standing outside, remains undecided. She says she?s torn between Obama and Hillary Clinton, but she adds she?s been turned off by the squabbling between the two campaigns.
NORRIS: Wasn?t that unfortunate- That got ? that just wasted breath, you know- It really wasted breath and it sent me to an Internet to see where John Edwards is voted.
CORNISH: Turner says Barack Obama still has a chance at her vote, but she?s not the only one wavering.
Polls show that while he?s still leads in the state, Obama?s support among white voters has declined.
Audie Cornish, NPR News, Charleston, South Carolina.
ADAM HOCHBERG: This is Adam Hochberg in Greenville.
As John Edwards completed a four-city tour on the eve of the South Carolina primary, the former senator was counting on voters in his native state to help revitalize his campaign.
NORRIS: We?re going to surprise the country tomorrow. We?re going to say, we want somebody as president of the United States who comes from South Carolina, who understands our lives.
HOCHBERG: Edwards spoke this morning at a Greenville restaurant called the Country Ham House, a Southern diner that symbolized the down-home persona he?s adopted in his campaign here.
NORRIS: You know, I have to tell you I?m proud of South Carolina. I?m proud of having been born here because you need a president of the United States who will never forget where they came from. That?s me.
HOCHBERG: Even in his native state, polls show Edwards running third behind Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. But some of those surveys suggest his support is growing as the primary nears. And today, the former senator cast himself as an earnest outsider in the race.
NORRIS: Senator Clinton and Senator Obama this week have brought their New York and Chicago politics to South Carolina. While they?re intent on tearing each other down, I?m intent on building up the people of South Carolina, and I think that?s what people in South Carolina deserve from a presidential candidate.
HOCHBERG: It was a message that went over well with many voters at the Ham House.
Gary Mallard(ph) came away from the event, feeling that Edwards is the most electable Democrat.
NORRIS: Obama gives you the impression of being a tad detached. And a lot of people just hate Hillary. And John Edwards is warm and he connects with people as individuals.
HOCHBERG: Edwards has poured millions of dollars into his South Carolina campaign and he?s advertising heavily on TV here. And his staff says regardless of what happens tomorrow, he?ll continue on to Super Tuesday and beyond.
Adam Hochberg, NPR News, Greenville, South Carolina.
DAVID GREENE: I?m David Greene in Columbia, South Carolina.
Hillary Clinton?s been speaking to mostly white audiences in the state. But today, she came to historically black Benedict College, where vice president and dean Stacey Jones got things started.
NORRIS: Good morning.
CORNISH: Good morning.
NORRIS: Oh, Benedict College, we could do better than that. Good morning.
CORNISH: Good morning.
GREENE: Jones told the audience of mostly students that she thinks Hillary Clinton is the best qualified candidate in the race. The dean said she knows many African-Americans are feeling uphold(ph) to Obama.
NORRIS: For some of us, it may take a very, very bold step to walk into that voting booth focused on our community?s future, rather than acting on pure emotion. Let?s do the right thing and elect Senator Hillary Clinton the next president of the United States.
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GREENE: Clinton, for her part, said the voting tomorrow is not necessarily about the people who are running.
NORRIS: I don?t think this election?s about me or, frankly, my opponents on either side. I think this election is about you.
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NORRIS: I think it?s about your lives, your futures, and your families.
GREENE: Outside, freshman Marquette Banks(ph) said he was spending the afternoon in the library studying two Democratic candidates.
NORRIS: I?m going to make my decision after history of their background. They reform a plan what they feel to do to change America.
GREENE: Banks said he?s been feeling torn for weeks.
NORRIS: It?s like Hillary and it?s like Barack. It?s like ? I just think I have to have - my left side say Hillary; my right side say Barack.
GREENE: Whichever side he goes with, Banks said he feels like he?ll be paving the way for a historic inauguration come January.
David Greene, NPR News, Columbia, South Carolina.