Republican presidential candidates turned their attention to South Carolina today with their White House race as wide open as ever following a win by Mitt Romney in Michigan.
Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts makes avictory speech in Southfield, Michigan.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson were all spreading out across the state for a frenzy of campaigning.
South Carolina Republicans vote on Saturday in the first contest in the South in the US presidential race to determine which Republican will face the Democrats' choice in the November election to succeed President George W. Bush.
While the Republican focus was in Michigan, Democratic White House contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton held a friendly debate in Nevada -- site of that party's next contest on Saturday -- promising to end a damaging dispute over race.
They praised each other's commitment to civil rights and agreed the clash had been exacerbated by overzealous surrogates in both their campaigns.
"We both have exuberance and sometimes uncontrollable supporters," said Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady. "We need to get this campaign where it should be. We're all family in the Democratic Party."
Republican McCain holds a 6-point lead over rival Huckabee in South Carolina three days before the state's presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
McCain leads Huckabee by 29 percent to 23 percent, while Romney was in third place with 13 percent.