Primary support popping up all over state

COLUMBIA -- Longtime supporters and recent converts were posting campaign signs Sunday declaring their preferred Democratic presidential candidate and hoping neighbors and passers-by will agree when they vote in Tuesday's primary.

Trav Robertson placed his John Kerry sign in his yard just two days ago, after attending the candidate's debate in Greenville. He had been a Gephardt supporter until the congressman dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucus.

Now, Robertson was trying to decide between Kerry and John Edwards -- a decision he said could be difficult for many Southerners.

"Do you vote for John Edwards to make sure that the South is not overlooked and to make sure that he is considered if he doesn't fare well in other states?" Robertson said.

But he said Kerry came out on top in the debate, and Robertson, who works for State Treasurer Grady Patterson, was able to shake hands with his candidate of choice. He thinks ultimately a Kerry-Edwards ticket is the best way to beat President Bush. Robertson, nevertheless, said he still could change his mind.

"There's something presidential about Kerry, but there's something extremely sincere about Edwards saying he was born in a South Carolina mill village," he said.

Jonathan Giesler, 52, definitely won't change his mind in the next two days. Giesler has his yard dotted with campaign signs and has been supporting former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean since late

spring when he went to a Dean event in Washington, D.C. He said he ran into people like himself at the event -- people who had been active in politics in the 1960s, but not much since then.

Giesler runs a local Web site, Columbiadean.blogspot.com, to bring supporters together. At his home Sunday afternoon, he was waiting for a conference call from Dean supporters.

"He's my preferred candidate to stand up to George Bush," Giesler said. "He has the greatest degree of credibility. He has the greatest likelihood of appealing across party lines."

Two Duke University law students were in parking lots of Columbia churches Sunday morning putting Edwards fliers under windshield wipers.

Darcy Walker, 24, said she was a recent convert to the Democratic Party. She's against high taxes, but she thinks Bush is fiscally irresponsible and she disagrees with his high-spending programs that are not reaching the people in need.

She said she turned to Edwards because he has the best chance to take the South -- a longtime Republican stronghold -- away from Bush.

Fellow law school student Jonathan Krause, 24, said he agrees with Edwards that there are "two Americas" -- one rich and one poor. Krause thinks the federal government has an obligation to bridge the gap between the two.

"He's inspired me in ways that JFK inspired a different generation," Krause said.

Rudy Valme, 25, jumped up and down in front of the Statehouse yelling "I'm crazy ... for Dean" as cars stopped at a nearby intersection. He got a few honks and waves, but he hopes his 8-hour day in the cold will garner Dean some votes.

"Dean's the man to beat Bush," he said.

Polls for the first-in-the-South primary open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m.

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LOU KRASKY
By placing signs in his front yard in Columbia, Jonathan Giesler is trying to generate primary support for Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean.

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