S.C. Dems push to get independent on Senate ballot

[n2doc]

Posted: June 17th, 2010 09:31 AM ET

From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

Columbia, South Carolina (CNN) - As Democrats in South Carolina face the uncomfortable prospect of having unemployed political novice Alvin Greene as their Senate nominee in November, some in the party have launched an effort to put a more polished candidate on the ballot as an independent.

Allies of former congressional candidate Linda Ketner, who came within four points of unseating Rep. Henry Brown in 2008, are seeking 10,000 signatures by July 15 to get Ketner's name on the ballot along with Greene and the Republican incumbent, Sen. Jim DeMint.

Ketner confidante Tasha Gandy announced the "all volunteer viral and field organizing effort" in an e-mail to former Ketner staffers Wednesday. "Long shot?," she wrote. "Yes. Have crazier things happened in SC? Yes. Can you help?"

The former staffers have also launched a campaign-style website for the petition drive.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/17/s-c-dems-push-to-get-independent-on-senate-ballot/

[Oregone]

1. They need to get Greene to endorse it

[Skidmore]

2. As if that will make a difference.

The Dems need to get their act together in SC. It was ridiculous that they didn't know who Greene was and that they just assumed Rawls was a viable candidate. Period. Dems in SC need to start acting like they want to win and not just assume that the state is forever stuck with Demint.

[David__77]

3. Agreed.

This is preposterous. It's up to the African-American community to seize leadership of the SC party and reorganize it and energize it. The old guard sucks.

[Oregone]

4. It would at least be funny, no?

[n2doc]

5. kick n/t

[murdoch]

6. And people accuse Greene of being a Republican plant

Right now there are two progressive candidates running against DeMint - Democratic nominee Greene and Green party candidate Clements. Polls have shown that Clements's support has surged over the past few days.

So now the Democratic party establishment wants to split the anti-DeMint vote even more and run their own candidate. What a surprise. We can't have the Green Party do well. We can't have the person rank-and-file Democrats voted for.

I run http://www.alvingreene2010.com as well as a Greene Facebook page. Both are unofficial. From the news I read and the contact I have gotten I have realized this - that Rawl was as unknown as Greene in the election (polls showed something like only 4% of voters knew who he was) and that Alvin Greene sounds more black than Vic Rawl, and this probably had a lot to do with Greene's election (even though most blacks had never heard of Greene either).

Maybe the Democratic leadership should put a little more effort into things the first time around. Maybe they should run black candidatdes like the South Carolina Democrats apparently want - why is he the first black Democrat running for Senate in South Carolina in a century?

Alvin Greene is closer to the rank-and-file South Carolina Democrats than the Vic Rawls and Linda Ketner and company.