Strange bedfellows at Huckabee rally

By Joseph Williams, Globe Staff

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A small cluster of volunteers for Democrat Barack Obama crashed Republican Mike Huckabee's primary night rally.

They were in the convention center practicing for an Obama rally on Sunday. "We were making a dry run for the speech tomorrow," said Lauren Wingo, 22, a student at UNC-Greensboro. "We smelled the food so we came on up."

Wingo was clearly not a part of this crowd, watching returns showing Huckabee in a tight race with John McCain. While most of Huckabee's supporters wore suits, sportcoats, blazers and jeans, she wore a T-shirt with pictures of Obama and Oprah Winfrey, commemorating their joint appearance at the University of South Carolina football stadium last month. The T-shirt read, "I Was There."