Huckabee takes GOP lead in S.C., Clinton leads Democrats

THE RACE: The presidential race for Democrats and Republicans in South Carolina

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THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS

Hillary Rodham Clinton, 42 percent

Barack Obama, 34 percent

John Edwards, 16 percent

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THE NUMBERS - REPUBLICANS

Mike Huckabee, 24 percent

Fred Thompson, 17 percent

Rudy Giuliani, 16 percent

Mitt Romney, 16 percent

John McCain, 13 percent

Ron Paul, 11 percent

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OF INTEREST:

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has vaulted from near the bottom to the head of the GOP pack in this latest poll for CNN. When the same poll was conducted in July, Huckabee was in the lower tier with just 3 percent of support from registered Republican voters. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped from first place in July with 30 percent to a tie for third at 16 percent with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who improved his position. In the Democratic race, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to lead in South Carolina, but Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has narrowed the gap with the help of increased support from black voters, moving up 7 points since July.

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The poll by Opinion Research Corp. was conducted by telephone between Dec. 9 and 12 of 555 likely Republican primary voters and 428 likely Democratic primary voters. The sampling error for the poll of GOP voters is plus or minus 4 percentage points; Democrats 4.5 points.

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Information from: CNN:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/14/