Columbia attorney Tally Parham was second in line, but she said she might still have been the first person in Richland County to cast a ballot in South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary.

Parham, an ardent John Edwards supporter, said there was a man in front of her at the Richland County Election Commission office, but she isn’t sure he was casting his absentee ballot.

Parham is also a captain and F-16 pilot in the S.C. Air National Guard. Her squadron is deploying for a training mission and she won’t be here for the Feb. 3 primary.

She is voting for Edwards rather than the other Democratic candidates, because he “is from South Carolina, he supports the military,” Parham said. “He brings hope and optimism to politics. He reminds me of Kennedy.”

Parham is also an associate in the same law firm as John Moylan, Edwards’ S.C. campaign director.

• Dean gets most of TV criticism, study says

LOS ANGELES — Howard Dean received significantly more criticism on network newscasts than the other Democratic presidential contenders, who were the subjects of more favorable coverage, according to a study released Thursday.

More than three-quarters of the coverage of Dean’s foes by the nightly news programs was favorable, while a majority of attention to Dean was negative, the Center for Media and Public Affairs found.

The study by the Washington-based media watchdog also found that network attention to the campaign was down by 62 percent compared to the last race involving an incumbent president, in 1996.

• Edwards tries to keep message positive

DES MOINES, Iowa — John Edwards sought Thursday to distinguish himself from the bitterly divided Democratic presidential field by casting himself as the one candidate who speaks ill of no other.

“People are sick and tired of negative politics. They are looking for a president they can be proud of,” he told 500 cheering supporters squeezed into a downtown hotel conference room.

With star-shaped confetti and blaring rock music, the rally allowed Edwards to contrast his self-consciously upbeat campaign to the spate of critical ads, mailings and telephone calls coming from other camps in a close four-way race for Monday’s caucuses.

Looking for a route to the top tier, Edwards and his advisers decided the best way to recruit undecided voters would be to stick to a positive, policy-driven message that saves his criticism for President Bush.

• Kerry takes bite out of GOP in Iowa

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — John Kerry campaigned on the griddle Thursday, serving up pancakes shaped like the Republican Party’s mascot.

The Massachusetts senator displayed his cooking skills at a breakfast with Pottawattamie County Democrats, where he fashioned pancakes as elephants.

“The reason I made the elephant is we’re going to eat it right now,” Kerry told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

• On the stump in S.C.

None of the candidates is campaigning in South Carolina today.