GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The folks at Tommy's Country Ham House in Greenville are expecting a record crowd Saturday morning, and the mob's not coming for the grits.

In a state famous for its bizarre brand of Republican politics, mere hours after polls open in South Carolina, the primary's two frontrunners are hosting dueling campaign events at the restaurant over breakfast. Same time. Same place.

Call it the Ham House Showdown.

LAURENS, SC -- Rick Santorum's Republican rivals might take issue with how he defines the word "positive."

The day after releasing an ad proclaiming Mitt Romney to be "just like Obama," the Republican presidential hopeful told voters at the Capitol Theatre here this afternoon that he has "run a very positive campaign."

The comment came in response to a voter concerned about the increasingly negative tone the campaign has taken on, fearing it could undermine the eventual nominees ability to compete with President Obama in the general election.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Rick Santorum gave an emotional speech to over 900 people at Cathedral of Praise church, where he shared stories of his daughter, Bella, and son, Gabriel, who lived for only two hours, to explain his anti-abortion position.

"I decided to run for president not because I had this idea I needed to become president of the United States, but one of the reasons Karen and I decided to do that in the face of having this child who needed so much care and help was because we wanted to make sure that we had a healthcare system and we had a society that respected the dignity of every human life."

SUMTER, SC-- With only a week remaining before polls open in the South Carolina primary, one could be forgiven for confusing tonight's rally with a general election event. Mitt Romney kept his focus squarely on President Barack Obama, delivering fresh attacks, and ignoring altogether his Republican rivals.

"I've watched the president over the last three years and I've been disappointed. He's failed the American people. He likes to say that he has had extensive experience working alongside hardworking Americans. Now you listen to those words carefully," Romney said during a rally at a VFW hall. "He's had experience working alongside hardworking Americans. I think it helps to have actually been a hardworking American, in a hardworking American job."

COLUMBIA, S.C. – After Rick Perry's attacks on Mitt Romney's private-sector resume cost him one high-profile South Carolina supporter Thursday, another influential Perry backer said he won’t change his endorsement but also asked for the Bain Capital jabs to stop.

David Wilkins, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada who endorsed Perry in August, told NBC News that he had voiced his dislike of Perry’s anti-Bain attacks with the campaign here.

"I think it's sort of ironic for Republicans to be attacking each other on capitalism and the free-enterprise system, which is something our whole party is based on," Wilkins said.

Earlier Thursday, Barry Wynn, a financial adviser and former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, told the Washington Postthat Perry's criticism of Romney's Bain record "kind of moved me over the top," compelling him to switch to the Romney camp.

Wilkins, a former South Carolina speaker of the House, said Perry and his Republican rivals "ought to accentuate the positive in everybody's campaign and leave the negatives to the other side and not be cutting each other up so much."

Wilkins was more supportive of Perry's TV ads, which tout his military record and Christian conservatism, calling them "extremely positive" and "professionally good."

Related story: Perry backs off 'vulture' attack on Romney and Bain

COLUMBIA, SC -- At a packed rally in South Carolina's capital city, Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday night defended the value of free markets in a proxy defense of the man she has endorsed for president, Mitt Romney.

"I am proud of all of our Republican candidates, but we have a real problem when we have Republicans talking like Democrats against the free market. We believe in free markets. We don't ever want people to come in and say that Boeing can hire and fire. We don't ever want people to go in to Michelin and say that they can make profits or they can't. We want companies to be able to do what is best for companies and during tough times you downsize and you make hard decisions and during good times you expand and you grow," Haley said. "That's what he's done. He's done what every one of us has tried to do."

The remarks came as Romney's rivals for the GOP nomination have seized on the former Bain Capital CEO's record in the private economy, and accused him of offenses as varied as practicing "vulture capitalism" (Texas Gov. Rick Perry) and "looting of companies" (Newt Gingrich).

On Wednesday a Super PAC supporting Newt Gingrich released a 27-minute video attacking Bain -- and Romney's -- track record of sometimes overseeing the demise or bankruptcy of companies they invested in.

On his flight from New Hampshire to South Carolina on Wednesday, Romney said he expected such attacks would come during this campaign -- but not from his Republican colleagues.

"We've understood for a long time that the Obama people would come after free enterprise. I was a little surprised to see Newt Gingrich as the first witness for the prosecution, but I don't think that's going to hurt my efforts," Romney told reporters. "Frankly, if I cant take a few shots coming from my colleagues on the republican side, I'm not ready for Barack Obama."

As the GOP nomination race moves to South Carolina, a state with a famously bare-knuckle approach toward nominating presidents, Romney said he was ready for a whisper campaign about his faith, Bain, or anything else that might come up.

"Politics ain’t bean bags and I know it's going to get tough and no one's going to be happy if things are said that are untrue," Romney told reporters on his campaign plane. "But I know that is sometimes part of the underbelly of politics."

SPARTANBURG, SC -- Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich attempted to set his campaign on a new track after landing in South Carolina Wednesday morning but seemed to change his tone by the end of his first day campaigning in the state.

"I'm frankly pretty fed up with the whole tone of America politics and the American government," Gingrich told the roughly 300 people at his town hall in Rock Hill, where his event had a rather populist tone.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- During a teletown hall with South Carolina voters today, Newt Gingrich slammed Mitt Romney’sgubernatorial resume, an indication of how the former House speaker may try to rout the Republican frontrunner in the coming days. 

Gingrich criticized the universal health care plan Romney signed into law as Massachusetts governor, claiming the law unfairly favored abortion providers.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Making his last pre-Christmas campaign stop, Newt Gingrich maintained that he would not attack his fellow Republican candidates, although he still had plenty to say about his top rivals in Iowa: Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

Gingrich seemed to take more direct shots at Paul, saying during a speech before an outdoor audience of at least 300, that Paul is "the only person I know who’s for a weaker military than Barack Obama."

MYRTLE BEACH, SC-- For the 24 hours after his flight touched down in the South Carolina, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was received like a rock star here.

Friday afternoon, with Gov. Nikki Haley, R-SC, at his side, Romney drew a crowd so large that the Greenville fire station hosting the event had to shut its doors. When the fire marshal and the fire chief are the same person, you listen to what he says.