In response to a query earlier today ARG's Dick Bennett emailed me back and had this to say on his poll released yesterday in South Carolina showing Mitt Romney at 26% and Fred Thompson at 10%. (Both the Romney and Thompson results are way out of the range for each candidate in all other SC polling.)

There is always the possibility that it is the sample, but the interviewers alerted me on Wednesday night that Romney was way up in SC so I added some follow-up questions and it is tied almost exclusively to recall of Romney's TV advertising. We saw the same thing in IA and NH.

Among men in SC, Romney went from 7% in August to 30% now. Among women he went from 6% in August to 22% now. Fred Thompson went from 30% in August to 15% among men, and from 20% to 5% among women.

We also know that Romney's newest ad (Change Begins With Us) is not working in IA and NH and has caused Romney to slip in those states.