South Carolina Battle Puts Bush, Governor on Spot : Campaign: Both Buchanan and Duke are on the GOP primary ballot. And the state’s chief executive heads the President’s national reelection effort.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Republican Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr. is a man in the hot seat.

The state’s presidential primary Saturday could represent President Bush’s best chance to hobble challenger Patrick J. Buchanan before the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states next week.

Campbell is national chairman of Bush’s reelection campaign, which also must contend with former Louisiana state Rep. David Duke, a onetime Ku Klux Klan leader and neo-Nazi whose name is on the ballot. South Carolina is the first state in which the President is up against both his GOP rivals, and the Bush forces are pulling out all the stops.

“They have really gotten very, very intense in this campaign,” said former Lt. Gov. Mike Daniel, a Democrat who lost to Campbell in 1986. “You’d think that Bush were 20 points down in the polls.”

In fact, a survey conducted last week by Mason-Dixon Opinion Research Inc. found that Bush was holding a commanding lead--78% to Buchanan’s 15% and Duke’s 2%.

Campbell has promised the President a strong showing. The economy here is relatively robust, the governor is popular and all Republican state officials have endorsed Bush--which could make the job easier.

“Carroll Campbell doesn’t shrink from a fight,” said his press secretary, Tucker Eskew. “He doesn’t shrink from a risk, and he sees opportunity in risk.”

The last governor to deliver a crucial state for Bush ended up as White House chief of staff. Former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu got credit for rescuing Bush’s 1988 campaign, and Campbell reputedly also has Washington ambitions. Eskew insisted that the governor is the President’s friend and expects no return favors, however.

Despite Bush’s lead in the polls, his supporters here are trying to lower expectations. “This guy doesn’t go anywhere and he gets 31%,” said Eskew, referring to the vote for “uncommitted” in South Dakota, where Buchanan’s name was not on the ballot and he did not campaign.

Buchanan is “trying to say that this is Bush country, I can’t do so well here--but he’s also spending a lot of time and a lot of money on radio and TV to change that,” Eskew said. “He’s not going to get 15%.”

The South Carolina race could be costly. In Georgia, where Buchanan won 36% of the vote to Bush’s 64%, Buchanan outspent Bush on advertising nearly 2 to 1--$400,000 to Bush’s $216,000, the Atlanta Constitution newspaper said.

“He has put more ads on TV than any presidential primary candidate,” said Bill Thorne, who headed the Bush campaign in Georgia. “He hasn’t really gained a lot (since) New Hampshire, and we’re happy to send him to a sister state and let them bruise him up some more before Super Tuesday.” In New Hampshire, Buchanan won 37% to Bush’s 53%.

Federal Election Commission rules allow Bush to spend more than $1 million in South Carolina. Bush campaign manager Robert Adams would not say if the President would spend that much. He said: “We’re planning to spend as much as we feel we need to turn out every Republican voter.”

In addition to television ads, Bush has surrogates campaigning here, along with well-tested telephone banks and mailing lists.