Report: Advisor Urges Huntsman to Fight in S.C.

Compared to his opponents, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has been pretty much a no-show in South Carolina as he concentrates his efforts in New Hampshire. But his top South Carolina advisor, Richard Quinn, is urging Huntsman to make a strong push in the state leading up to the Jan. 21 primary, according to this report by CNN.

Quinn, principal of Columbia-based political consulting firm, Richard Quinn & Associates and father of Lexington state Rep. Richard Quinn, Jr., says in a private memo obtained by CNN that Huntsman must mount a robust campaign in the state if he wants to survive and believes the candidate could do well here with higher exposure.

"Gov. Huntsman has the flexibility to get his conservative message out in the Greenville and Spartanburg market while also devoting the necessary time and resources along the coast and in the midlands focusing on his economic record," CNN says Quinn wrote in the private memo. Quinn also called Huntsman a "natural fit" for the coastal counties that racked up big margins for McCain in 2008, the report said.

According to a recent NBC News/Marist poll in South Carolina, Huntsman is near the bottom of the presidential pack, with just three percent support in the state.

"The road to Florida goes through South Carolina," Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said recently. "On the heels of Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina will likely again be critical for the next GOP nominee."

Since 1980, every Republican candidate who has survived to clinch the GOP nomination has won the S.C. primary.

It remains to be seen whether Huntsman heeds Quinn's advice. The next Huntsman appearance in the state will actually feature Huntsman's three eldest daughters, who reportedly will be the guests on the online interview show, Pub Politics, Thursday evening at Pearlz in Columbia.

Pub Politics is a weekly webcast from a local bar where Democrat Phil Bailey and Republican Wesley Donehue (GOP candidate Michele Bachmann's state campaign chairman) talk with featured guests about South Carolina and national politics.