McCain takes early lead in South Carolina: poll

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican John McCain holds a 6-point lead over rival Mike Huckabee in South Carolina three days before the state's crucial presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

McCain, an Arizona senator, leads the former Arkansas governor by 29 percent to 23 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was in third place with 13 percent.

South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday is the next battleground as both parties choose candidates for November's election to succeed President George W. Bush. Nevada also holds Republican and Democratic nominating contests on that day.

The polling was conducted Sunday through Tuesday, before Romney's breakthrough win on Tuesday night in Michigan scrambled a chaotic Republican race with no clear front-runner.

The wildly fluctuating Republican race has produced three winners in the first three significant contests -- Huckabee in Iowa on January 3, McCain in New Hampshire last week and Romney in Michigan.

"Romney's win in Michigan will probably cut into McCain's lead," pollster John Zogby said. McCain's advantage had been shrinking during the first days of polling and already was down from an initial double-digits, he said.

The rolling tracking poll of 813 likely voters in South Carolina's Republican primary had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

In fourth place among Republicans was former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. Texas Rep. Ron Paul trailed with 6 percent and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had 5 percent.