Last Updated on February 24, 2022
The race to the primaries in South Carolina has been pure soap opera.
Nikki Haley, the state’s sole female candidate for governor, endorsed by the current governor’s ex-wife and Sarah Palin, was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with not one but two different men. She has vigorously denied the claims and said that Palin warned her to expect such attacks if her poll numbers went up. And we all know what a brilliant strategist Palin is, right?
It appears that all of that melodrama didn’t hurt her campaign. If anything, it seems to have boosted her resolve and that of her most dedicated supporters, because she is hovering around the 50% mark in the Republican primary.
She will now face Gresham Barrett in a runoff. Neither was my first choice. The winner of the runoff will face Democrat Vincent Sheheen in November.
Then there was the battle of famous sons for the 1st District Congressional seat. Paul Thurmond, son of the late Strom Thurmond, battled against Carroll Campbell, son of our former governor. Both the elder Thurmond and elder Campbell are viewed as political dynamos in this state.
Thurmond’s campaign ad — I only saw him air one single spot — featured him walking into a place of business and introducing himself. When the business owner asked for his qualifications, he listed his experience as a small business owner and, thereby, a payroll creator; his work as a councilman reducing wasteful spending, and then said, “And I’m Pro-Life.”
Being pro-life isn’t a qualification. It’s holding a point of view. In the strictest freedom sense, wishing to remove a couple’s right to choose what is best for their family seems anti-freedom to me.
When the business owner, who clearly doesn’t have the same objection to the young Thurmond’s use of being pro-life as a qualification pauses to ponder the Thurmond name, the young man says, “It’s Paul Thurmond, sir, and it isn’t the name, it’s the honesty and trust you bring to the job.”
A nice thought, of course, but let’s face it: it if weren’t at least a little about the name, they wouldn’t have mentioned it in the spot.
Tim Scott, a black state lawmaker who is Republican and very vocal in his opposition to President Obama, is leading the pack, with nearly double the percentage of votes Thurmond has. Campbell is a couple of points behind Thurmond, which likely means it’ll be a Scott-Thurmond showdown in the runoff.
Most disappointing is the state treasurer contest. Challenger Curtis Loftis heavily ran two attack ads against incumbent Converse Chellis, accusing Chellis of using misleading attack ads against him. Funny thing is, I only saw one Chellis ad the entire campaign cycle, and it was all about Chellis. I never saw a Loftis spot that was all about Loftis and not a lot of negative campaigning against Chellis.
One such ad complained that Chellis was “desperate” to keep his “cush job” at which he only worked 20 hours per week, yet brought home $92,000 a year.
Since Loftis has leveled claims that Chellis is doing a full-time job in half the time, I expect Loftis to argue that the pay should be half its current rate. Or, even better, if the office of treasurer is truly the “cush job” Loftis said it is, he should fight to get the position eliminated entirely by the end of his term.
I am not holding my breath.
Rep. Joe Wilson, one of several people who brought embarrassment to the state of South Carolina in the past couple of years when he shouted, “You lie!” at Obama during that speech to a joint session of Congress, easily won his primary. Wilson doesn’t represent my current district; if he had, he would not have gotten my vote, and that one incident would have been a part of the reason I wouldn’t have voted for him: it’s not about whether Obama was or wasn’t lying; it’s about having enough basic common sense and decorum to know how to conduct yourself professionally in what is supposed to be a noble profession. There’s enough drama as it is in Washington without all of the bad behavior.
I know local television stations have benefitted greatly from the influx of ad dollars that primaries in several states delivered. From that standpoint, I should be sorry to see the primaries end.
But I’m really, really tired of all of the attacks, so I’m delighted to see the primaries come and go. How soon can we get the runoffs out of the way?
