ROCK HILL, S.C. – In the run-up to Saturday’s South Carolina primary, the remaining candidates are vigorously working the Upstate, the Lowcountry, the Midlands and the Pee Dee.

Rick Santorum started Tuesday in Charleston and ended in Anderson. Mitt Romney has three rallies scheduled for Wednesday in Spartanburg, Rock Hill and Irmo. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have also been busy with a series of town halls and meet-and-greets.

But amid the frenzied campaigning here, one candidate has been notably disengaged: Ron Paul.

While his rivals hit the hustings in South Carolina immediately following the New Hampshire primary — in Perry’s case, he was already here — Paul has taken a decidedly hands-off approach. After his second-place finish, he returned to his Lake Jackson, Texas, home, and didn’t show up in South Carolina until a Sunday evening appearance in Myrtle Beach.