Edwards returned to the state of his birth Wednesday morning to a roaring applause from more than 100 supporters at a Greenville sandwich shop. Edwards hopes the momentum from his win accelerates his campaign in New Hampshire, where he lags in the polls. He moved to the Tar Heel State as a boy.

He has his campaign staked on a win in South Carolina's primary on February 3rd. The North Carolina senator told supporters Wednesday he will stay above the sniping among other Democratic contenders and continue a positive message about helping the middle class. Edwards will return to South Carolina on Friday.

Edwards state campaign chairman John Moylan says people here expect their candidates to pay attention to them. He says those that ignore the Palmetto State do so at their own risk. Moylan says the campaign took a big step in Iowa.

US Senator John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses. He has not been in South Carolina since September 12th and does not plan on returning until after next week's New Hampshire primary.

Other candidates have routinely stumped through South Carolina in vying for the nomination. Wesley Clark and Al Sharpton spoke Monday at the King Day at the Dome rally.

The wife of Joe Lieberman, Hadassah Lieberman, will be in the Lowcountry on Wednesday afternoon. She is meeting with the community about education and on behalf of her husband.

South Carolina Democrats will get some help in their primary from Iowa Democrats. South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin says Iowa plans to send volunteers and technology to help their Palmetto State colleagues with the upcoming February 3d primary.

Erwin says the Iowa Democratic party made the offer of staff and computer software following the state's caucuses on Monday night. Erwin says it would take a few days to convert the computer program to South Carolina's precincts and train poll workers in time for contest. There have been more than 5000 volunteers recruited to help run the polls.

Despite a third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, a recent poll indicates Howard Dean is the candidate to beat in New Hampshire. A new Reuters-MSNBC-Zogby poll shows Dean holding onto a slim lead with 25 percent of the vote. Kerry is nipping at Dean's heels with 23 percent. Retired general Wesley Clark holds third place with 16 percent, followed by Edwards and Lieberman with seven percent each. The New Hampshire primary is January 27th.

updated 10:47am by BrettWitt