SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Republican Mike Huckabee arrived in South Carolina yesterday eager to gain some votes -- and shed some pounds.

The former Arkansas governor finished third in New Hampshire and first in Iowa.

Now he enters more familiar Southern territory where he hopes to tap voters more attuned to his Republican brand of economic populism and social conservatism.

On his way to Spartanburg, Huckabee boasted of beating rivals Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson in New Hampshire, saying both should have had better numbers.

But he acknowledges he also should be seeing a better number -- on the scale.

A fitness advocate who has lost more than 100 pounds, Huckabee fretted that he had put on 10 to 12 pounds while on the campaign trail. He's preparing to run in the Boston marathon in April.