Palmetto State receptive to Clark

Clark may be better postioned than conventional wisdom's pundits seem to want to believe.

Clark visits South Carolina where he tops latest poll

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Retired Gen. Wesley Clark made his first stop in Columbia as a presidential candidate Friday, talking about the universal health care plan he unveiled Tuesday and how President Bush erred by going to war in Iraq.

Clark spoke for about 45 minutes in a University of South Carolina Law School classroom packed with a standing-room-only crowd of about 250.

It was Clark's second visit to the home of the first-in-the-South Democratic presidential primary since he declared his candidacy in September. His other visit was to The Citadel military college in Charleston.

The former NATO commander had little to say about his campaign's big news of the day: a new poll that shows him leading the Democratic pack - including surging ahead of U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, a Seneca native.

When pressed, all Clark would say about the poll was, "I feel good about the reception I'm getting in South Carolina, that's what I feel good about."

The American Research Group poll of 600 likely primary voters put Clark ahead of Edwards, 17 percent to 10 percent, with 36 percent of the voters undecided. The poll had a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points.