Edwards mostly lagged in '03

John Edwards, lagging in the polls in South Carolina, said he expects to win its primary anyway based on past experience.

"I won the South Carolina primary in 2004, and I was way behind in the polls at this stage in 2004," Edwards said.

That certainly was the case nationally. In national polls conducted during November and December 2003, Edwards lagged significantly behind Howard Dean, Wesley Clark, Richard Gephardt and Joe Lieberman.

But the poll numbers were a little different in South Carolina. A few polls showed Edwards trailing, but at least two state polls showed Edwards the leading named candidate after "Don't Know" or "Undecided." On the other hand, today Edwards seems to be trailing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in South Carolina in every published poll we were able to find.

Featured Fact-check

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

stated on April 1, 2024 in an interview on CNN

“President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history, that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech ... to censor his opponent."

Edwards didn't say whether he meant national or local polls in his interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Given the two polls that showed Edwards leading South Carolina, we can't give him full marks and instead award him Mostly True.