During the last two presidential elections, for instance, about two Republican votes were cast here for every one Democratic vote. Of the 14 partisan-elected state and local officeholders representing the county's southern half, none are Democrats. And during the current election cycle, area residents so far have given about $160,000 to Republican candidates and committees, compared with $21,000 given to Democrats, according to data from Dwight L. Morris and Associates, a political research firm.

But local Democrats, who head to the polls Tuesday for their party's primary, say their ranks are growing.

"We've had very steady growth the last four years," said Tom Israel, a member and former president of the Democratic Club of Beaufort County South of the Broad.

The 11-year-old club says it drew about 60 new members last year, bringing its total to 325 -- a far cry from the early days when Israel said meetings only drew a "handful of people."

Club president Jerry Bernier broke the club's membership into three groups: black residents, traditional white southern Democrats and northern transplants.

It's from the north where the group has gotten its recent growth, as retired teachers and government workers have found the club appealing, Bernier said.

One such local Democrat is David White, 63, who moved here this past fall from Maryland, where he worked for the state education department.

White, who built a four-bedroom house on Hilton Head Island, said he is supporting Howard Dean this year mostly because of Dean's anti-Iraq War stance.

Joining White last week at a Dean supporter's meeting was Delores Davis, a 64-year-old teacher who moved here from Virginia.

"My parents were Democrats, so that's just the way it is," said Davis, who was reared in Louisiana.

Not discouraged by Dean's disappointing finishes in the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses, the local Dean group is doing everything it can to find local votes for the former Vermont governor.

Using previous election results, the group has identified 1,700 potential Dean supporters south of the Broad. Most, said group organizers, live in north-Hilton Head precincts. Volunteers plan to canvass those neighborhoods before Tuesday's primary.

SUN CITY

For any candidate making a serious run at Beaufort County, Sun City Hilton Head is a must stop.

During the 2000 presidential election, 91 percent of the retirement community's 2,781 registered voters turned out. Since then, the development's voting base has nearly doubled to 4,037, according to S.C. Election Commission data.

But so far this year, only one Democratic candidate has stopped by. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark spoke to about 150 Sun City residents in late November.

"I think they are missing out," said Joe Lyons, president of the Sun City Democratic Club.

In fact, Clark was one of just two candidates who have come to southern Beaufort County this entire primary season. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards spoke at a private fund-raising dinner on Hilton Head last August.

Bernier, of the south of the Broad club, said her group has tried continuously for the past year to attract candidates, but "the campaigns are aware that this is a predominantly Republican area."

If Democrats are to grow their numbers, Sun City may be the most fertile ground.

The community's Democrats club, started six years ago, has grown steadily and now has 164 members, including many retired doctors, police officers, firefighters and college professors, Lyons said.

"We are still heavily outnumbered by Republicans in this community, but it's becoming competitive," he said.

Sun City's moderately priced homes draw many middle-class northerners, and as new residents move in, the club sends them a letter, urging them to join, Lyons said.

"They come and say, 'I didn't realize there were so many Democrats in Sun City,' " he said.

COMEBACK

One local Democrat who knows what it's like to fight for votes in southern Beaufort County is John C. West, who was South Carolina's governor from 1971 to 1975.

At that time, the northern migration to Hilton Head was well under way, as wealthy Yankees continued to buy up beachfront property.

West, a native of Camden, said in an interview last week that he got little support from the northerners.

Instead, West, who remembers campaigning at area fish fries and shrimp boils, said he relied on the local black vote. But, the 81-year-old recalled, that support was not strong enough for him to win the county.

The county Democratic losing trend has continued. Republican Gov. Mark Sanford won 60 percent of the county's vote in 2002.

But West has hopes that local Democrats will make a comeback.

When he moved to Hilton Head in the early 1980s, he said, he felt isolated as an island Democrat.

"Now I feel comfortable with a fair number of other people who have joined the Democratic clubs and come out openly for the candidates," he said.