Former Romney adviser predicts he'll lose South Carolina

A former adviser to Mitt Romney predicted he'll lose South Carolina despite his lead in the polls there.

"There are high expectations for Romney to win a state which demographically he should not be winning," said Al Cardenas, who headed Hispanic outreach for Romney in the 2008 election but has stayed neutral in this race because he now heads the American Conservative Union. "I believe that for these very same reasons, it will be very difficult for Romney to win on Saturday despite polling information to the contrary."

But he predicted that win or lose in South Carolina, Romney is in good shape to be the GOP nominee. Cardenas said that if another candidate wins the state, he will try to argue that it's still early and that a shrinking field will change the dynamics of the race.

"I don’t buy it unless a lot of resources accompany that claim," he said in an interview with The Hill on Tuesday. "[It is] still Romney’s to lose if he does not win in South Carolina."

Cardenas predicted Romney will continue to struggle in the Deep South even as he does well in the Northeast, Midwest and West, and that South Carolina is a particularly tough state for Romney. The former Massachusetts governor finished in fourth place there with 15 percent of the vote four years ago.

"South Carolina has one of the strongest Tea Party movements in America with 60-plus active chapters and a very strong evangelical [Christian] presence as well," he said, and argued that the state "clearly represent[ed] one of Mitt's biggest challenges."

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