The newest post debate polls in S.C. shows Obama’s double digit lead over Clinton slipping a couple of points, but the real “mover” in the poll was Edwards, who slipped into first place with white voters in that state.

Meanwhile, the undecideds remain very high, about 15%+.

And, don’t believe the spin: Sen. Clinton is trying very very hard to win in S.C., doubling up her ad buys since the weekend to include her specious attack on Sen. Obama as praising Reagan and his ideas.

One reason I hope Obama wins in S.C. is the actual on-the-ground campaign that Sen. Clinton is running there. From the start, she plugged in with the entire “establishment” black Democratic Party leaders. She’s spread what is called “street money” far and wide — “consulting” contracts with ward heelers who hire folks to bring voters to the polls and keep party discipline. She’s spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on these “community” organizers. I’ve seen this before in party politics and we have it here in Oklahoma. If you run for office in OK on the Dem side, you will meet a great many black “pastors” and “organizers” who want money for gas for their drivers, etc., etc. Way back, cash was turned into half pints of whiskey that were traded for votes here in OKC. It’s a system that had its place in politics, I suppose, but it’s a system that I think is now outdated and corrupt: it’s the last of the Irish/Italian/Polish/whatever machine politics of Tammany Hall.

Sen. Obama has (much like David Boren when he first ran for governor in OK) bypassed that old system in the Palmetto State and brought in volunteer organizers and staff from all over the country to construct their own “ground game” outside the old networks.

I hope he succeeds because that’s what’s best for the party and for politics in America.

Meanwhile, the polls tell me that there are so many undecideds in S.C. that it’s like New Hampshire and you can’t trust the poll to accurately portray the actual outcome of voting. Too many variables, including the ground game versus street money tactics and whether late “attack” mailers affect the undecideds. (The late attacks on Obama in New Hampshire on his “present” votes on abortion related bills in Illinois likely affected that primary; the video below is one of Obama’s answers to similar attacks in S.C.).

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