(Published January 25‚ 2004)

WASHINGTON (AP) - John Edwards appeared to have a slight lead in South Carolina with several rivals within striking distance in the Democratic presidential race, a poll released Sunday shows.

Edwards, a native of South Carolina and now senator in neighboring North Carolina, was at 21 percent. John Kerry was at 17 percent, Al Sharpton at 15 percent and Wesley Clark at 14 percent in an American Research Group poll.

Howard Dean was at 9 percent, Joe Lieberman at 5 percent, Dennis Kucinich was at 1 percent and 18 percent were undecided. South Carolina will hold its primary Feb. 3, a week after New Hampshire's Tuesday primary.

The results in New Hampshire are likely to shake up the race in the states that follow, much as the Iowa caucuses reshaped the New Hampshire race this week. Dean led in New Hampshire before Iowa, where Kerry's victory and Edwards' strong second-place finish gave them a burst of energy heading into New Hampshire.

Other states holding contests on Feb. 3 are Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota and Oklahoma.

The ARG South Carolina poll of 600 likely voters was taken Jan. 23-24 and has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points.