Leading social conservatives in the S.C. Republican Party are seeking an alternative to U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona for the GOP’s 2008 presidential nomination.

They are looking at Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, U.S. Sen. George Allen of Virginia and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, among other potential candidates.

For months, public opinion polls have placed McCain atop the GOP pack, a worrisome trend for conservatives.

Basically, they don’t trust McCain.

“I’ll never support John McCain,” said Drew McKissick, a Columbia-based political consultant and a member of the Christian Coalition. “He’s not a reliable conservative.”

Some are much harsher.

“I can’t stomach him,” said Dan Richardson, a grassroots activist from Greenwood.

Both men supported Bush over McCain in the 2000 S.C. presidential primary, a contest remembered for its nastiness.

The 2008 race is wide open. The fact that neither a sitting president nor vice president will be running for the White House has touched off early, intense competition in the GOP.

There will be an anti-McCain candidate, social conservatives promise. The only question is: Who?

Allen’s name is most mentioned by social conservatives. He was a big hit at the S.C. GOP convention last weekend.

Former state GOP chairman Dan Ross of Blackville said Allen is going to be a favorite in South Carolina. “He’s saying a lot of what people want to hear.”

And McCain?

“I don’t trust him,” he said.

The insurgent candidate in 2000, McCain is offering himself up this time as the establishment candidate. To that end, he has begun an intense courtship of Bush’s financial and political network.

He has met privately with Barry Wynn of Spartanburg, John Rainey of Columbia and Eddie Floyd of Florence, who were state co-chairmen of the Bush finance team.

McCain folks also have reached out to Warren Tompkins, a key state strategist who ran Bush’s campaign here.

Tompkins has not committed. It’s too early, he said. Nevertheless, he painted a rosy picture for McCain.

According to Tompkins:

• The old wounds from the 2000 campaign are gone.

• The 42 percent of the S.C. primary vote that McCain received in 2000 will be hard to beat.

• The senator has been around the track before, a fact establishment Republicans find attractive.

• Polls show McCain as the only Republican beating U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

McCain has been trying to mend fences with social and religious conservatives. The process has been slow.

Some former Bush supporters already have made the leap.

“If McCain runs, I’ll support him; he’s eminently qualified,” said Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, a big Bush supporter in 2000. “He is a good role model for America.”

Columbia-based consultant Richard Quinn, who managed McCain’s 2000 S.C. campaign and is involved deeply again, dismissed social and religious conservatives who seem hell-bent on stopping McCain.

“They’d rather be president of the Republican Party than president of the United States,” he said. “They’re willing to walk off the cliff to find the absolute right-wing candidate available.”

McCain gets a huge boost in South Carolina from U.S Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a longtime McCain supporter and the state’s most popular politician.

“He’s a tremendous asset for McCain,” Quinn said.

But that won’t stop McKissick and other critics.

“I’ll be doing all I can to run this ‘Straight Talk Express’ off the road.”