SC leaders travel to meet with Rudy

State GOP leaders traveled in March to New York to meet with potential presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, according to The State:

The trip was part of the South Carolinians’ search for a consensus presidential candidate for 2008. It was primarily an information-seeking conference for both sides, participants said.

“There were a lot of questions. A lot of interests,” said Warren Tompkins, a Columbia-based political consultant with close ties to the White House. “We talked process, and gave the mayor and his staff the names of people to contact.”

That meeting was followed up by another a week later, attended by former state GOP chairman Barry Wynn of Spartanburg, insurance executive Gayle Averyt and Dr. Eddie Floyd, a Florence surgeon. Wynn and Floyd were state finance co-chairmen of President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns.