Just four days out from New Hampshire’s pivotal primary, John Edwards swooped into South Carolina on Friday to energize supporters in his native state.

The diversion — while his rivals remained focused exclusively in New England — is evidence of just how important Edwards believes South Carolina is to his presidential hopes.

Analysts and party leaders say that with Edwards’ momentum from a surprise second-place finish in Iowa and a potential strong showing in New Hampshire, the Seneca native and U.S. senator from North Carolina could own South Carolina’s first-in-the-South primary Feb. 3.

“If Edwards runs third or better in New Hampshire, he’d be very difficult to beat here,” said Dick Harpootlian, former state Democratic Party chairman.

On the ground in South Carolina, Edwards has dispatched a paid staff of about a dozen and has commitments from about 1,000 volunteers, spokeswoman Jenni Engebretsen said.

He was one of the first candidates to campaign in the state, has had a steady TV presence and, as of Friday, had been to the state 20 times.

But still, his organization is outsized by Howard Dean’s Internet-driven campaign. The Rev. Al Sharpton has spent more time in South Carolina. Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman skipped Iowa, allowing them to campaign here while Edwards was fighting there.

Despite the momentum he has gained in the state, Wofford College political scientist Robert Jeffrey said, a lot depends on what happens in New Hampshire.

But if all goes well in New Hampshire for the one-time trial lawyer, Jeffrey hinted, there could be a two-man race between Edwards and Iowa winner John Kerry.

“It looks like it’s going to be Edwards with the only shot at Kerry after New Hampshire,” he said.

A raucous, overflow crowd of supporters packed the Margarette H. Miller Cosmetology Center for Edwards’ rally at a meeting of the Voter Education Project on Friday. The crowd included many key S.C. supporters who had earlier questioned Edwards’ ability to win the state.

State Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, introduced Edwards at the event. Not long ago, he was considering abandoning his endorsement of Edwards.

“I like Senator Edwards personally, but I’m concerned about whether he’s going to survive this process,” Jackson said two weeks ago. “It doesn’t appear that he’s gaining traction nationally.”

But Edwards’ star rose rapidly in the week leading up to the Iowa caucuses, and he wound up receiving 32 percent of the vote there, just six points behind Kerry.

“Iowa changed everything,” Jackson said. “What a difference a week makes.”

At the rally, Edwards focused on issues he hopes resonate with South Carolina voters — education, jobs, health care, poverty and race relations.

Poverty has become a recent staple of Edwards’ stump speeches. He raised the issue at the debate in New Hampshire on Thursday night.

“You just don’t hear anybody talk about it,” Edwards said Friday in an interview. “I know these people don’t vote, but it’s something I think we have a moral responsibility to do something about.”

He also lamented the loss of technology jobs, which he said was a result of a trade policy in which the balance is tipped too far in favor of free trade, and an underdeveloped technology infrastructure in rural America.

“For a lot of companies, it’s easier for them to do business with India than with rural South Carolina,” he said.

Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Edwards’ message about poverty will resonate with Southern voters in general — and with S.C. voters in particular.

“Think of the significance of that in a region that is still the poorest region in the country and has large rural regions of persistent poverty,” Guillory said. “He’s delivering a real substantive message now.”

Edwards made another promise to the state, that the Feb. 3 primary will not signal his last trip to South Carolina.

He said he plans to campaign in the state if he is the nominee, even though many analysts consider South Carolina a lock for Bush. Edwards said he can beat Bush in South Carolina.

His visit to South Carolina came a day after fellow U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., endorsed Kerry.

“I love Fritz Hollings,” Edwards said. “He’s a good man, but we learned in Iowa how much difference these endorsements make.”

Still, the same day as Hollings’ endorsement, Edwards’ campaign released a list of 15 new S.C. endorsements, mostly local elected and party officials.

And the campaign is hopeful it can gain the nod of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, who had endorsed U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri before he dropped out.

Ike Williams, Clyburn’s longtime S.C. political director, and a consultant to the Edwards campaign, had a prediction about what his boss might do.

“If he doesn’t endorse Edwards, he doesn’t endorse anybody.”

Reach Drake at (803) 771-8692 or jdrake@thestate.com.