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The Charlotte area straddles North and South Carolina. Republicans who live just steps inside the North Carolina line can only watch longingly as their southern neighbors narrow the field of candidates. By the time North Carolinians get a crack at the Republican field in May, the decisions will already be made.

The state Republican Party reversed itself from a previous assertion that it would not declare a winner. A recanvassing of the votes showed Santorum won by 34 votes, though the preliminary results gave Mitt Romney an eight-vote lead.

In South Carolina, comedian Stephen Colbert and former GOP candidate Herman Cain joined forces at an event dubbed the "Rock Me Like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally."

Every year since 1980, the winner of South Carolina's Republican primary has gone on to win the party's nomination. Republican strategists and political scientists say the reasons are pretty simple.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley swept into office on a wave of Tea Party enthusiasm. One year later, her approval numbers are slumping, and her endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has drawn criticism from many of her core supporters.

South Carolina's Lancaster County is solid Republican country — it went for John McCain over President Obama in 2008. It also has a 12.3 percent unemployment rate, which will likely affect how people in Lancaster County vote in Saturday's GOP primary.

If a Northerner winds up winning Saturday's South Carolina primary, you could argue that it's because the good people of Columbia have the same interests, the same concerns and the same passions as the denizens of Des Moines and Nashua.

One news nugget almost lost in the attention paid to Newt Gingrich's angry response to a question about things an ex-wive has said about their marriage: He said her claim that he wanted an open marriage "is false."

Newt Gingrich's second wife, Marianne, sat down for an ABC °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ interview in which she described her messy marriage and divorce from the former House speaker. The interview aired Thursday night on Nightline, two days before South Carolina holds its primary.

Based on what they needed to get done in the Charleston, S.C. debate, Santorum and Gingrich probably had the best nights while it worked out less well for Romney. Gingrich, dealing with the fallout of an ex-wife's sordid accusation, had a choice, he could be contrite or go after the media. He decided if there was going to be a villain in the piece, it would be the media, not him.