Republicans point toward 1st of 2 SC debates

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — The Repub­li­can pres­i­den­tial con­tenders on Mon­day cam­paigned their way into the first of two debates before a piv­otal week­end pri­mary in South Car­olina, with Mitt Rom­ney savor­ing an endorse­ment from the lat­est cam­paign dropout and his pur­suers strug­gling to emerge as the race’s prin­ci­pal conservative.