[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/20/art.norris.ap.jpg caption="Norris is hosting a fundraiser for Huckabee at his Texas ranch."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - Chuck Norris brought his tough-guy approach to the campaign trail Sunday, taking aim at John McCain's age and suggesting the Arizona senator might not last even a single term.
Norris, an ardent supporter of Mike Huckabee, told reporters he believes serving as president accelerates the aging process 3-to-1.
"If John takes over the presidency at 72 and he ages 3-to-1, how old will he be in four years? Eighty-four years old - and can he handle that kind of pressure in that job?" Norris said, as Huckabee looked on.
"That's why I didn't pick John to support, because I'm just afraid the vice president will wind up taking over his job within that four-year presidency," added the action star.
Huckabee himself avoided offering his own opinion on whether McCain is fit for the presidency, saying "Only John McCain and his hair dresser know for sure."
Norris, who has been at Huckabee's side for weeks as the former Arkansas governor campaigns for the presidency, is hosting a fundraiser for the Republican White House hopeful at his Texas ranch Sunday.
- CNN's Eric Fiegel and Alexander Mooney
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/images/01/20/art.edwards.ap.jpg caption=" Edwards said Sunday he's in it for the long haul. "](CNN) - After a crushing loss in Nevada's Democratic caucuses Saturday, presidential candidate John Edwards said Sunday that he hopes "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
Edwards placed a distant third in the vote, with just 4 percent of the vote, behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
“I got my butt kicked. That is what happened in Nevada,” the former North Carolina senator told Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s Late Edition. “And the job for me now is - I have learned this from my whole life experience, is when you get knocked down, you have got to get up. You have got to get up and start fighting again…
“I would kind of like to go back to the old Las Vegas saying, though. You know, ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’? I hope that turns out to be true in this case.”
Instead of campaigning in Nevada in the days before Saturday’s vote, Edwards focused instead on stumping in his birth state of South Carolina, where he won the 2004 primary.
Edwards is running a distant third in the state in most recent surveys, behind Obama and Clinton.
Saturday night, after his disappointing Nevada finish, his campaign tried to downplay the importance of results in any one state. "The race to the nomination is a marathon and not a sprint,” said Edwards’ campaign manager, former Rep. David Bonior. “The nomination won't be decided by win-loss records, but by delegates, and we're ready to fight for every delegate.”
On Sunday, Edwards continued to sound a cautious theme, saying South Carolina was “important,” but just one “part of the long process. …We will see how it goes.”
Related video: Watch Edwards' Late Edition interview with Wolf Blitzer
- CNN Associate Political Editor Rebecca Sinderbrand
(CNN) - John McCain Sunday brushed aside suggestions exit polls from the South Carolina Republican primary suggest he still is failing to garner widespread support from his party's base.
"I got more votes than anybody else, and it says that I got it from across the spectrum from all over the state," McCain told CNN's Dana Bash. "We expected this to be a very highly contested race, and for the 28 years the candidate who has won South Carolina has been the nominee of the party."
The Arizona senator edged out Mike Huckabee Saturday night in the first Southern primary of the race, 33 percent to 30 percent. But according to exit polling, McCain narrowly trailed Huckabee in support from the 80 percent of primary voters who identified themselves as Republicans. Huckabee won 32 percent of their support compared to McCain's 31 percent. (McCain overwhelmingly won among the remaining 20 percent of primary voters who identified themselves as independents.)
McCain has long had difficulty currying favor from his party's conservative wing. Despite his solid voting record in the senate, many ardent Republicans have been unhappy with his past willingness to team up with liberal Sens. Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform and Ted Kennedy on immigration. McCain drew only 26 percent of the conservative vote in South Carolina Saturday.
Support from the base will be crucial in upcoming contests: McCain now faces a bevy of state primaries where independents are not allowed to participate, beginning with Florida’s vote on January 29. But the Arizona senator is predicting that his support among veterans, his economic proposals, and his record on environmental issues important to many Floridians will carry him to victory there.
Related video: Watch Dana Bash's interview with Sen. McCain
- CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Chelsea Clinton and Vernon Jordan, a longtime adviser to President Bill Clinton, quietly attended two African-American church services in South Carolina on Sunday, six days before the state's Democratic primary.
The appearances are part of the Hillary Clinton campaign's outreach toward the state's black voters, who are expected to be a crucial constituency in the primary vote. Barack Obama holds an edge over Clinton among African-Americans according to recent polls.
Chelsea Clinton attended the 11 a.m. service at Bible Way church in Columbia, whose pastor, state senator Darrell Jackson, is a member of Hillary Clinton's South Carolina steering committee.
Jordan and his wife Ann attended services at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia.
Hillary Clinton will make her first post-Nevada appearance in South Carolina tomorrow morning in Columbia, while Obama will hold a rally at the Columbia Convention Center tonight.
UPDATE: The Obama campaign points out that Michelle Obama also attended 11 a.m. worship services at Bible Way Church on Sunday.
- CNN South Carolina Producer Peter Hamby
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/POLITICS/01/20/obit.lewine/art.lewine.ap.jpg caption=" Jacqueline Kennedy, right, pours tea for AP correspondent Frances Lewine, left, in 1960."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - Frances Lewine, who covered the White House for the Associated Press during the administrations of six presidents and spent nearly three decades as a CNN assignment editor and field producer, died Saturday of an apparent stroke. She was 86.
Lewine was regarded as a trailblazer who battled for women's rights in journalism, fighting to open the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club - a Washington journalists' organization - to women.
"It's amazing that at her age, Fran was still staking out administration and elected officials after weekend talk shows," CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Bohrman said. "All of journalism has lost a true pioneer."
Watch McCain's victory speech in South Carolina (Photo Credit: AP)
COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Arizona Sen. John McCain gained an important victory Saturday in the South Carolina Republican primary, but exit polls indicate he made few inroads into the conservative heart of the Republican Party.
The results leave the race for the party's presidential nomination wide open going into the January 29 primary in Florida and the "Super Tuesday" contests beyond.
"I just would have to regard this as a good night for McCain, with some significant concerns when you get into the weeds," political analyst Stuart Rothenberg told CNN.
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