In the news, comes this report:

McCain, Romney hit over Confederate flag

Washington Times, January 18, 2008

By Stephen Dinan - COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Confederate battle flag – an issue that has confounded politicians in South Carolina for more than a decade – is back again, this time in the form of radio ads attacking Republican presidential candidates Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney for criticizing the flag.

Paid for by Americans for the Preservation of American Culture, the ads also single out rival Republican Mike Huckabee for praise, saying the former Arkansas governor defended the flag as a state and heritage issue. They began running yesterday.

"Mitt Romney's been trying, but when it comes to bashing the Confederate flag, he can't hold a candle to John McCain. McCain's been doing it – calling the flag a racist symbol – for years," one of the minutelong ads says.

Another ad goes straight for Mr. Romney, with the announcer saying, "Romney let fly in a CNN debate, saying 'that flag shouldn't be flown' and 'that's not a flag I recognize.' "

Ron Wilson, a former national commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and a South Carolinian who was involved in raising money for the ads, said they will be run through Saturday's primary on every radio station in the state that carries the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly.

He wouldn't say how big the ad buy was, only that he has been told the commercials will reach 60 percent to 65 percent of all Republican primary voters.[More]

Meanwhile, over at the Chronicles blog, Tim Manning warns that there's no reason for Southerners to actually trust Huckabee, or think he cares about their heritage:

All along, Huckabee has said his liberal stance on illegal immigration is brought on by his desire to make atonement for slavery, ”a second chance for America to get right with God.” He has, himself, over and over, repeatedly used all of the same politically correct slurs against the Confederate flag–not to mention grandstanding for the NAACP. Not only does this last minute ploy attempt to align Confederate flag voters with a bad and fraudulent candidate, but it plays into the national stereotype that those who like the Confederate flag will support a megalomaniac Big Government Liberal Republican. [Huckabee’s Confederate Flag Fraud]