(23:02 p.m. ET) 

Mitt Romney spoke to a packed crowd of 700 in Nevada, with more people outside trying to get in. That's rare for any Romney event, and the crowd was going wild as the Michigan GOP winner offered his usual mix of stories and complaints about a broken Washington. The crowd was definitely one of the most enthusiastic so far, and Romney urged people to caucus for him, but a few of the people who spoke to afterwards said they were from Southern California. 

-- Dispatch from FOX News producer Shushannah Walshe.

( 21:30 p.m. ET)

John McCain continued to campaign in western South Carolina Wednesday but in a moment of reflection, hearkened back to Tuesday's Michigan primary, which he lost to Mitt Romney.

Speaking to reporters while on his campaign bus, McCain suggested he was somewhat surprised by his 9-pint loss to Romney, and said he thought he would have come closer because the crowds were large and enthusiastic.

But the Arizona senator continued to predict victory in South Carolina, where recent polling puts him well in front of the GOP pack. Joining McCain on the South Carolina trail was 1996 GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp as well as Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and the state Attorney General Henry McMaster.

McCain rejected suggestions that he was whining about negative campaigning in the state. Push polls and flyers have appeared recently attacking him on his abortion stance and his service in Vietnam. Graham and McMaster continue to tell crowds that the push poll calls are lies and that anyone with questions should ask the campaign or call them. 

McCain outlined an economic stimulus plan that relies on tax breaks for business. It focused on the long term rather than the short term. The highlights -- lower the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent, allow expensing of equipment and technology investments and establish a permanent research and development tax credit.

McCain said he does not favor a $300 or $600 rebate check right now for low and middle income earners to stimulate the economy. He might change position on that later, but said he thinks the tax breaks are best now.

-- Dispatch from FOX News producer Malini Bawa.

(18:22 p.m. ET)

Rudy Giuliani paid a private visit to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist Thursday afternoon, in an apparent attempt to secure the Republican governor’s endorsement before the state’s crucial Jan. 29 primary.

The former New York City mayor has staked his campaign on Florida, opting to stay put there while other GOP candidates campaign fervently in South Carolina, which votes Saturday.

Having lost traction in the polls but still shrugging off other early primaries, Giuliani is looking to use a Florida victory as a springboard to capture other states on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.  But Giuliani is courting Crist as potential suitors cozy up to the popular governor.

Poll numbers show John McCain threatening to edge him out even in the Sunshine State, and The Miami Herald reported Wednesday that McCain called Crist after winning the New Hampshire primary Jan. 8. Mitt Romney also put in a call to Crist after winning the Michigan primary Tuesday, but Crist wasn’t in.

Click here to read more from The Miami Herald.

-- Dispatch from FOXNews.com's Judson Berger.

(2:18 p.m. ET)

Bringing up Ronald Reagan on the campaign trail is decidedly in vogue for this year’s Republican presidential candidates – but when Democrat Barack Obama did it, rival John Edwards couldn't resist shaking his head.

Edwards on Thursday chided Obama for his recent remarks underscoring Reagan’s ability to bring change.

"Senator Obama … used Ronald Reagan -- President Ronald Reagan -- as an example of change. My view is I will never use Ronald Reagan as an example of change," Edwards said in Henderson, Nev. "When you think about what Ronald Reagan did to the American people ... to the middle class ... He was openly -- openly intolerant of unions and the right to organize … I can guarantee ... this President (points to himself) will never use Ronald Reagan as an example of change."  

Obama said Monday in a discussion with the Reno Gazette-Journal staff that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not, and in a way that Bill Clinton did not."

He went on to say, "He tapped into what people were already feeling which is, we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

Click here to see the video of Obama talking about Reagan.

Obama later said Reagan was “transformational” in that he leveraged an exclusively red-state base to carry out his policies.

"When the country was so sick of a blue state president, Carter, Reagan was able to tap into it by being 100 percent red-state,” he said. “Reagan knew transformation was all about mandate. Reagan ran a clear red-issue campaign. He never reached out to blue. Reagan was able to bowl over any resistance in Congress because he had a clear 100 percent red-state mandate … Reagan, therefore, was able to get all the changes he wanted. Reagan was for those reasons ... transformational."

Huckabee Camp Denounces Push Polling Again - and Again

(1:46 p.m. ET)

Mike Huckabee's campaign on Thursday repeatedly denounced push polls in South Carolina that rivals John McCain and Fred Thompson say have been deliberately distorting their records.

The pro-Huckabee polls have come from Colorado-based Common Sense Issues, which the Huckabee campaign has previously -- and unsuccessfully -- tried to convince to stop.

Campaign Chairman Ed Rollins reiterated Thursday that, "We have told them over and over not to do the push polling. I absolutely have nothing to do it. There is absolutely no connection between me and this group."

The Huckabee campaign also released a statement earlier saying:

"It's an underhanded way of doing business that is not welcomed by the campaign and it flies in the face of what Governor Huckabee stands for: integrity and clean politics. On behalf of Governor Huckabee and his campaign, I ask once again that these calls be stopped immediately."

Romney, AP Reporter Spar Over Lobbyists' Role in Campaign

(12:44 p.m. ET)

Mitt Romney and AP reporter Glen Johnson got in a verbal tussle in Columbia, S.C. Thursday, after the reporter began drilling the Republican presidential candidate over his claims that lobbyists do not steer his campaign.

Here's the heated back and forth:

Romney: I don't have lobbyists running my campaign. I don't have lobbyists that are tied to my …

Johnson: That's not true governor. That is not true. Ron Kaufman is a lobbyist.

Romney: Did you hear what I said? Did you hear what I said, Glen? I said I don't have lobbyists running my campaign, and he's not running my campaign.

Johnson: He's a senior adviser.

Romney: He's an adviser. And the person who runs my campaign is Beth Myers, and I have a whole staff of deputy campaign managers.

Johnson: Is Beth Myers on the plane with you?

Romney: Beth Myers has been on the plane with me, and Beth Myers is running my campaign, absolutely. Do I know --

Johnson: So Ron's just ... window dressing. He's just a potted plant?

Romney: Ron is a wonderful friend -- an adviser. He's not paid. Hes an adviser like many others. But I do not have lobbyists running my campaign. Glen, I appreciate that you think that's funny, but Ron Kaufman is not even in on the senior strategy meetings of our campaign.

Johnson: (inaudible)

Romney: Excuse me, Glen. He is not in on the senior strategy meetings of our campaign.

Johnson: Is he in the debate sessions at all? Any time-

Romney: At any time? Has he ever been at a debate session? Sure. Is that a senior strategy meeting? Is that a senior strategy meeting of our campaign? No. Let me go back and complete the point I was making. My campaign is not based on Washington lobbyists. I haven't been in Washington. I don't have lobbyists at my elbows that are arguing for one industry or another industry. And I do not have favors I have to repay to people who have been in Washington for years nor scores I have to settle. And I'm going to Washington to make things happen. And somebody doesn't put the kind of financial resources that Ive put into this campaign and the personal resources I've put into this campaign in order to do favors for lobbyists. I'm going to Washington to help the American people, and that's what this campaign is all about.

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom later scolded Johnson for being argumentative with the candidate and "out of line," and told him to "act professionally."

-- Dispatch from FOX News' Shushannah Walshe

BET Founder Apologizes to Barack Obama

(11:44 a.m. ET)

BET founder Robert Johnson issued a written apology to Barack Obama Thursday for his “inappropriate remarks” that seemed to reference the Illinois senator’s past drug use.

Johnson, a Hillary Clinton supporter, said on Sunday that the Clintons were helping the black community “when Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood that I won’t say what he was doing, but he said it in his book.”

Though Johnson claimed he was talking about Obama’s time as a community organizer in Chicago, the remarks seemed to be a direct reference to Obama’s admissions of past drug use, which he has written about.

And in the apology, Johnson said: "I'm writing to apologize to you and your family personally for the un-called-for comments I made at a recent Clinton event. In my zeal to support Senator Clinton, I made some very inappropriate remarks for which I am truly sorry. I hope that you will accept this apology. Good luck on the campaign trail."

John McCain Pitches Corporate Tax Break

(11:24 a.m. ET)

AIKEN, S.C. -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain proposed an economic stimulus plan on Thursday that would lower the corporate income tax rate and provide a host of other tax breaks for business.

His plan would cut the corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent. McCain said that would expand the U.S. economy, creating jobs and opportunity.

"My plan will cut taxes, spur investment and innovation and make American business more competitive in the global marketplace," McCain said in prepared remarks before outlining his economic plan later Thursday in Columbia, S.C.

The plan would also establish a permanent research and development tax credit and allow tax breaks for equipment and technology investment.

It does not contain tax relief for individuals other than to renew a McCain call to make permanent expiring tax cuts passed by Congress in President Bush's first term.

GOP rival Rudy Giuliani has also proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 25 percent.

-- The Associated Press

Against the Grain, Romney Earns Nevada Paper Endorsement

(9:47 a.m. ET)

They knew he was coming so they baked a cake.

The Las Vegas Review Journal endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, just as the Republican candidate was leaving South Carolina to campaign in Nevada.

The former Massachusetts governor is going against the grain, since every other major GOP contender -- save for Florida-minded Rudy Giuliani -- is hunkered down in South Carolina, which holds its historically critical first-in-the-South GOP primary Saturday.

Aptly, the Journal endorsement begins, "You might not know it, but there's also a Republican caucus in Nevada on Saturday."

Click here to read the Journal endorsement.

Romney has said John McCain is the expected winner in South Carolina, and that while he'll give the state its due attention, he's looking to win delegates in Nevada and beyond.

The Journal, which also endorsed Democrat Barack Obama, in its GOP endorsement cited Romney's economic stances, which he stressed in Michigan before winning that state's primary Tuesday.

"Each GOP candidate can make -- and has made -- a reasonable case that he's best suited to ensure the party again embraces the ideas and concepts that made this nation a beacon of freedom and economic opportunity. But in our opinion, the viable candidate most likely to lead Republicans in such a direction is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts," the paper wrote.

"Mr. Romney's economic agenda includes several pro-growth policies, including a plan to eliminate taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends for any household earning less than $200,000 a year. He backs a line-item veto, favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent and understands that imposing higher taxes as a means of fixing Social Security will only make the problem worse."