DeMint Leads In South Carolina

IF Jim DeMint runs for President, PPP says he leads his home-state of South Carolina, a key contest in the race for President. If he doesn't run, Mike Huckabee has the early lead. From their article:

DeMint is certainly well liked with the Republican base in his home state, sporting a 77/12 approval breakdown. But they're closely divided on whether he should go for the White House or not, with 40% of GOP voters expressing support for such a move but 37% opposed and 23% not offering an opinion. Because of that tepidness toward him running for President he just narrowly leads the primary in the state. 24% of voters say DeMint would be their top choice, followed by 20% for Huckabee, 17% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Sarah Palin, 10% for Newt Gingrich, 4% for Ron Paul, 3% for Tim Pawlenty, and 2% for Mitch Daniels. DeMint wouldn't be able to count on a blowout victory on the home front.

If you take DeMint out of the equation Huckabee is the biggest beneficiary. He would lead the state with 26% to 20% for Romney, 18% for Palin, 13% for Gingrich, 7% for Paul, 4% for Pawlenty, and 3% for Daniels.

This is bad news for Palin and Gingrich. Do the math here: Huckabee leads Iowa and South Carolina, Romney leads New Hampshire and Nevada. Romney would be favored in Michigan. This only really leaves Florida in play, and why would they do any better there? DeMint running could cut Huckabee's candidacy down at the knees by taking South Carolina, but he'd hardly be a lock there. All in all, bad news for Palin and Gingrich.