With Bump, McCain Heads South to Stump

GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain --enjoying a bump in presidential preference polls in New Hampshire and Florida and closing in on a weakening Mitt Romney for third place in South Carolina--announced this morning that he'll head to Florida tomorrow morning for a quick event at the Tallahassee airport, then move on to South Carolina.

He plans to arrive in South Carolina early Tuesday afternoon and embark on one of his patented bus tours across the state. In keeping with his focus on support for the Iraq war, the senator's schedule includes a talk at the Camden Military Academy and a "meet and greet" with ROTC cadets at South Carolina State University.

But a McCain campaign staffer said that unlike his recent "No Surrender"  bus tour of New Hampshire, which focused exclusively on the Iraq war, this week the candidate will address a broad spectrum of issues and plans to return to doing more town hall events where he'll have face-to-face time with voters. The tour will wind up Thursday afternoon.

—Liz Halloran