COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ever since Ronald Reagan in 1980, the winner of the South Carolina Republican primary has gone on to win the party's presidential nomination, and often the presidency.

Yet as Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee head into today's vote fighting for the top spot in the state, even the South Carolina Republican Party chairman concedes that the Palmetto State might not be able to pick the national front-runner this time.

Katon Dawson, the South Carolina Republican Party chairman, cautioned against expecting the state to crown a national front-runner.

"This is a different time," Dawson said yesterday. In earlier campaigns, prior votes in Iowa and New Hampshire had narrowed the field to two, and South Carolina gave the nod to one of them.

Yesterday, McCain appealed to fiscal conservatives and security-minded voters, criticizing proposed tax rebates to stimulate the economy as shortsighted, stressing his calls to slash pork-barrel spending and reminding voters of his early push to send more troops to Iraq.

"Where do the rebates come from?" McCain asked a crowd at a Hilton Head resort. "Do they just have a printing press? That money doesn't fall like manna from heaven."

It was his tough stance on Iraq, though, that appeared to sway more people in the Hilton Head audience.

"My son is serving in Iraq," said Marti Etter, 57, who handles vacation rentals in Hilton Head, "and (McCain) is the best one to take care of him."

Huckabee stressed pocketbook issues yesterday, looking to broaden his appeal beyond religious and moral issues as voters grow more anxious about the economy.

In Greenville, Huckabee acknowledged President Bush's proposal to stimulate the economy but said it didn't go far enough.

"President Bush's plan will help, and it's an important step. But South Carolina and the rest of the nation need some bigger changes if we are to reverse the trends of the last few years," he said.

Speaking to retirees in Hilton Head, he pitched his proposals for more balanced trade agreements, less regulation on business and the Fair Tax, a form of national sales tax that would replace the income tax.