Customer visits in two parts of the state took me within a few miles of the Republican presidential debates in Columbia, S.C., this evening, but I wasn’t able to spare the time to divert and observe.

What I did see is that Mitt Romney’s already got signs out along Interstate 26 and television ads on the local cable system — and no one else does.

Is this a continuation of the strategy of reaching out to evangelicals, coming out in this very conservative state after a visit to Regents University in Virginia Beach last week? Will Bob Jones University be next? Hmm …