South Carolina

South Carolina tight end Boomer Foster wasn't sure how he'd feel when the moment arrived. Now, after five years, he knows. "You get a little bit of nervousness at every pre-game type of a deal, but this one is going to be a little bit worse," Foster said as the Gamecocks got ready for their first postseason appearance in six years. South Carolina (6-5) meets West Virginia (7-5) today in the Carquest Bowl at Joe Robbie Stadium with a chance for the Gamecocks' first bowl victory in nine tries.

Over the weekend, Frank Martin called the reports that had him leaving Kansas State to coach at South Carolina "a compliment that we're doing our job the right way. "  Here's another indication that Martin has done his job the right way: South Carolina will pay him $12 million over six years in a deal that he confirmed to CBSSports.com on Monday night and that multiple sources say could be announced as early as today. Martin resigned from his post at Kansas State on Monday evening, according to CBSSports.com, after leading the Wildcats to a 117-54 record with five straight 20-win seasons.

The serial killer who terrorized a South Carolina community by shooting five people to death before police killed him Monday was a career criminal paroled just two months ago, authorities said. Patrick Burris, 41, was shot to death by officers investigating a burglary complaint at a home in Gastonia, N.C., 30 miles from where the killing rampage started June 27.

Six men, including a former soldier, have been arrested in the border town of Laredo, Texas, in connection with drug trafficking and an alleged murder-for-hire plot, according to federal officials. The arrests culminate a months-long federal sting operation in which the suspects allegedy helped hatch a plan to purchase weapons for drug cartel members in exchange for money and drugs. Kevin Corley, 29, and Samuel Walker, 28, both of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Shavar Davis, 29, of Denver were arrested over the weekend in Laredo,  according to a statement released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Mitt Romney still holds a double-digit lead in South Carolina ahead of the state's potentially decisive Republican primary, but Newt Gingrich has narrowed the gap some, according to a new CNN/Time poll. Romney has the support of 33% of likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina, good for a 10-point advantage over Gingrich. That's down, however, from an 18-point lead Romney held over Rick Santorum in a poll earlier this month. Santorum is now down to 16% in the new poll, followed by Ron Paul at 13% and Rick Perry at 6%. For Romney, a win in South Carolina on Saturday could essentially end the GOP nominating race.

The day after he finished last in New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary, Texas Gov. Rick Perry launched a packed day of events in South Carolina, where he has staked the future of his campaign. Speaking to about 55 people in a side room at the Lizard's Thicket restaurant in Lexington, just west of the state capital, Columbia, an animated Perry dismissed Iowa as “interesting” and New Hampshire as “a fine place,” but said: “South Carolina is who picks presidents.” Since 1980, every winner of the GOP primary in South Carolina has gone on to take the party's presidential nomination.

Despite Mitt Romney's loss in the South Carolina primary, few of his supporters seemed worried about his prospect of clinching the nomination.   David Smoot, a real estate developer who drove down to Romney's primary party from his home in Raleigh, N.C., said he believed Romney's second-place finish would encourage him to defend his record more forcefully. He chalked up the loss to "unthinking voters" and insisted that Gingrich would never become the Republican nominee.   "If you want someone to lead the country, why would you let a serial adulterer be our standard-bearer?"

We're down to the final five. With Jon Huntsman Jr.'s decision to go no further, the GOP presidential field has been pared down to front-runner Mitt Romney and four others desperate to find some way to slow his momentum. South Carolina remains the best hope for Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul or Rick Perry to pull off an upset. But to do it, they'll need to knock Romney off his game at Monday evening's debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. There's risk involved. Gingrich and Perry have found that some conservatives haven't warmed to their attacks on Romney's work at Bain Capital.

Stumping in Upstate South Carolina, which he praised as the conservative heart of the state, Rick Santorum insisted to the voters who came to see him that the Republican presidential primary was wide open and that they could choose the candidate they believed in, not the one the establishment believed in. “This idea that this is a fait accompli, that Mitt Romney is going to be the nominee, or that Mitt Romney is on this roll, let me assure you...

Jon Huntsman may not have high polling numbers in South Carolina, but he appears to have a lot of time to spend here, something evident Thursday morning as the Republican presidential candidate talked for an hour at a crowded restaurant -- so long that some people began to leave before he had finished speaking. Speaking at a breakfast at the Honeycomb Cafe on Daniel Island hosted by the Berkeley County GOP , Huntsman, dressed in jeans, a maroon button-down shirt and a blazer, called on opponents to end partisan politicking.

South Carolina Lt. Gov. Ken Ard resigned Friday morning, declaring it was in the "best interest" of the state after a months-long probe into abuses of his campaign war chest, including allegations that he spent the money on a video game console and expensive clothing for his wife, among other things. Ard, who was elected in November 2010, had his resignation letter delivered to the office of fellow Republican Gov. Nikki Haley Friday morning. In a separate statement, Ard issued an apology to his staff, family and the people of South Carolina.

The cost of executions is soaring, especially in the state that conducts the most: Texas. The reason? The necessary drugs have become increasingly hard to get. A year ago it cost the Texas Department of Criminal Justice $83.55 for the drugs used to carry out an execution -- sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Then last March the state was forced to replace sodium thiopental with pentobarbital after the U.S. supplier of the former drug halted distribution amid international protests.

It sometimes feels as if the struggle for the Republican presidential nomination has been going on forever, but if you measure the campaign by the number of delegates chosen so far, we're only about 10% done. Much has been made about how the outcome is still far from certain despite what seems like a blizzard of primaries and caucuses, but that's not unusual. Four years ago, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton waged a struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination that didn't end until June 3. Still, it's worth pausing at this point in the race to consider a few of the lessons we've learned so far. Don't listen to the pundits . At the beginning of this year's campaign, many political reporters and analysts (including me)

Newt Gingrich, facing a double-digit loss to rival Mitt Romney that some predict will doom his presidential bid, sought to turn the results of Tuesday's critical Florida primary into a victory, arguing that the contest is now defined as between himself and the former Massachusetts governor. "Florida did something very important coming on top of South Carolina. It is now clear this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader Newt Gingrich and the Massachusetts moderate," Gingrich told a few hundred people in a half-empty ballroom here.

Robert Cardwell voted early in Florida's Republican primary, but that doesn't mean the campaigns have stopped trying to win his vote. Campaign advertisements blare at him from the television, pop up on the Internet, make their way onto his answering machine. "Some of them are pretty annoying," said Cardwell, 75, a retired airline pilot. "I try not to turn on the TV during the day. " Thanks in part to "super PACs," independent political organizations that since 2010 have been allowed to raise unlimited funds from corporations and individuals, Florida's airwaves have been swamped with advertisements leading up to Tuesday's primary.

That guy Gingrich Re "Gingrich wins big in S. Carolina," Jan. 22 Will the Republican Party, the so-called family values party, really offer up Newt Gingrich as its standard- bearer? Gingrich condemned President Clinton for his indiscretions while at the same time he was taking a parallel path. He denies his ex-wife's claim that he wanted an open marriage. He committed numerous ethics violations as speaker of the House. And this is the man Republicans in South Carolina voted for?

The chances of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford being impeached lessened significantly Wednesday when a state legislative panel rejected a resolution to begin the process of removing the philandering chief executive from office. However, the House judiciary subcommittee did approve a resolution to censure Sanford for secretly leaving the state in June. Rather than go hiking along the Appalachian Trail as he had stated, the Republican governor spent a week in Argentina with the woman he has called his soul mate.

They amble in every morning to the back table, shake hands and sit beneath the sign saying "B.S. Community table," which, depending on whom you ask, either stands for Bible study or another kind of B.S. This morning, the nine or so people at the diner are talking politics as they lean over cheese-covered grits, thick omelets and triangles of toast covered in butter. "When I was in the service, I remember when we were worrying about China. Now we're asking them for money?" says Cecil Wright, 84, the eldest member of this group of retirees, shaking his head.

Mitt Romney's stunning loss in South Carolina was as broad-based as his win in the previous primary in New Hampshire, according to exit polls, raising new questions about his ability to reach a wide assortment of voters. And perhaps most troubling for Romney's campaign is that Newt Gingrich, who came from behind to swamp Romney in the Palmetto State by more than 10 percentage points, received the most support from voters worried about the economy. Romney has built his message around his talents as a turnaround specialist.

With Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich engaging in a dogfight, Rick Santorum soldiered on, trying to persuade some of Florida's reddest Republicans that the top two finishers in South Carolina's upending primary are convenient conservatives, while he is the real deal.  As the campaign wound down in South Carolina, the former Pennsylvania senator's rhetoric became increasingly sharp. In one speech, he even dismissed Romney and Gingrich as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. But in Florida, he has tempered his language, becoming almost mild.