Update on South Carolina from CNN

South Carolina's primary season is about to heat up, reports CNN:

This Saturday marks the beginning of the South Carolina's county convention season, when Republican activists gather in high school gyms and cafeterias to attend to local party business and tap delegates for the statewide convention … York County Republican Party officials will run a 2012 presidential straw poll at their [Saturday] convention. Perhaps a more instructive straw poll will take place the following Saturday in Greenville, home to the state’s largest county-level Republican Party organization and ground-zero for South Carolina’s evangelical community. Santorum, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are all expected to attend the Greenville event on April 9, followed by the Spartanburg County convention occurring later that morning and just a few miles up I-85. Another 2012 straw poll will be conducted on April 15 at the Charleston County convention, likely to be one of the largest Republican gatherings of the season."

The article points out that Newt has two big "gets": Katon Dawson and Walter Whetsell.

Of the 2008 primary winner, Mike Huckabee, Peter Hamby writes that the former Arkansas Governor "has done next-to-nothing to mount a repeat bid in South Carolina."

Hamby notes that former Minnesota chief executive Tim Pawlenty "has no one working for him on the ground in Columbia."

Tim Pawlenty had courted Dawson and Whetsell, both part of Newt's team now, to be in his campaign

From Politico in August 2010:

According to multiple South Carolina GOP sources, Pawlenty senior adviser Terry Nelson met recently with four of the state’s most influential consultants: Warren Tompkins, Richard Quinn, Walter Whetsell and former state GOP chairman Katon Dawson.

Tompkins is yet to sign on with any Presidential candidate, while Quinn is with former Utah Governor and U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.

Former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson will be Newt's "top adviser" in the important early state. (Update: Newt also has a former Fred Thompson SC consultant on board.)

National Journal:

If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich does run for president, former South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson will likely be the former House Speaker's chief strategist in the state.

"If he runs, I'll be with him," Dawson told Hotline On Call. "I'm trying to encourage him to."

Gingrich also echoed the one-time candidate for RNC chair's praises, saying there was "no question" he would be his top adviser in the crucial early state.

"I think, frankly, having Katon Dawson's help is an enormous asset," Gingrich said of his South Carolina chances.

...

"I think he fits pretty well with South Carolina ideologically," said Dawson. "Me and a team are going to work for someone we think can really change America."

Gingrich said he'll make a definitive announcement on whether he's forming an exploratory committee within the next four to five weeks, but that he's encouraged by the feedback he's received at his "Newt Explore" site he launched earlier this month and the reception he's continuing to get across the country.

Another hint he's running? At the end of his speech this afternoon to the Greenville County Republican Women's Club, he was presented a tie with the state's famous Palmetto tree emblem.

"You can expect to see me back wearing this a number of times," Gingrich joked.

Update: According to Process Story, Newt also has Walter Whetsell, who served as Fred Thompson's South Carolina consultant in 2008.