Today, a Hillary rally in Columbia, South Carolina features Charlie Rangel and David Dinkins — each one addressing how they are proud that an African-American is making a strong run for the presidency, but that they conclude their Senator is the best choice to be the next president.

“Lofty rhetoric is nice, but ultimately you have to govern,” Dinkins says. Wonder who that’s aimed at…

I can’t quite figure out the Hillary strategy in South Carolina. To me, you either conclude that you’re not going to make up the gap in the polls, skip the state, and argue that South Carolina doesn’t matter against the backdrop of all of the high-delegate states on Super Duper Tuesday. Or you put all your resources in and you try to deal Obama a terrible blow in a state he ought to win.

(All of the polls put Obama up, some by double digits. Yes, I remember the lessons of New Hampshire.)

Hillary left the state for part of the week, and is now back. Bill Clinton’s been there all week. Obviously, lots of surrogates are in the state for her.

To me, this hybrid approach is the worst of both worlds – just enough effort to demonstrate that Hillary wanted to win, not enough effort to really make a dent in Obama’s lead.