COLUMBIA, S.C. — The North Carolina man not going down without a fight. A third-place finish here doesn’t mean it’s over. People operate better under pressure.

Or so say members of the Edwards campaign. Those who stood up to speak before Edwards all had words of encouragement:

“He’ll come back fighting like a tiger.”

“The thing you’ve got to remember is that we’ve only had four states, right? We’ve got 46 more to go.”

“That’s what we like about John Edwards – he’s a fighter.”

“At the end of the day we’ll be calling on President John Edwards.”

Those stay-the-course words were accompanied by the bar’s overhead speaker, letting a party know their table was ready. At first, the hundreds of people pressed in front of Edwards’ stage didn’t overcome the buzz from the Saturday party crowd in the next room.

But when Edwards walked in, a huge cheer emerged, as if their cheers could urge him to future victory.

Barack Obama spoke at 9 p.m., Hillary after 9:30. Edwards’ words started after Obama’s and before Clinton’s — putting him in the second-place spot he’d hoped to achieve here.   

Edwards didn’t talk about his loss or the future fight. He talked about his ideas. He talked about the people in America who fall through the system’s cracks, those who can’t pay their electric bills and their rent, veterans without health insurance, those who can’t afford college. And he thanked those who have helped him here in South Carolina, both this time and four years ago.

The Edwards party has dissipated…the press is packing up their gear. But the people here who support him say it’s not over ’til it’s over.

“Are you ready to continue to the next state?” said one speaker. “All right, let’s go!”