SC Yellow Dogs

Beth Padget thinks the South Carolina Democratic Party had a point about filing on Sunday. Here is what she said in a recent blog:

Sometimes it’s fun just to sit at your desk and await the “ping” alerting you to an e-mail. Especially during a super-charged election year.

Well the South Carolina Democratic Party wants you to know their people want to be in church on Sunday morning – not sitting around some office waiting for stragglers to file for office.

All kidding aside, I think the Democrats have a point. After all, this is South Carolina, buckle of the Bible Belt. But we have state laws that set the filing period for candidates running for a bunch of offices. By statute, the candidates file between noon on March 16 and noon on March 30. Well, this year, those dates come on Sundays.

And, I’m not good enough to do the math, but it’s got to be possible for the closing of the filing period to come on Easter Sunday. The opening fell on Palm Sunday this year.

So a short while ago, I get an e-mail from the South Carolina Democratic Party that was really addressed to state Attorney General Henry McMaster. Now, I hadn’t realized that his office had rendered an opinion that to me (if the quote is correct) is pretty unintelligible. It says, according to the Dems release: “I am unaware of any prohibitions to the various committees with whom the statements of intention of candidacy are to be filed receiving such on a Sunday in order to comply with such provision.”

Now, the Dems pretended they understood that sentence, so much so that they fired back, “Unfortunately, this opinion runs counter to South Carolina’s principles, and fails to consider that, when the ‘various committees’ accept filing, actual people have to be present regardless of their preference to be in church.” Now that I can understand. It means lots of people in South Carolina go to church on Sunday, and they’d prefer not having to worry about candidates needing to file for office.

As Carol Fowler wrote on behalf of the S.C. Democratic Party, “Having candidates file for office between 8 a.m. and noon on a Sunday may not be illegal, but it goes against the values of our state, which for a great many of us include Sunday morning worship services. I am disappointed that these values weren’t taken into consideration when you rendered your opinion.”

So, how about this: Change the silly state laws so the filing period doesn’t open and end on a Sunday.

Don’t you think this would be a good idea?

The monthly Yellow Dog Chat with chair Carol Fowler was held last night, January 10th. For those of you able to join, your participation was greatly appreciated! We hope you were able to get some of your questions answered, and will have more for the next chat session.

To view the transcript, click here.

Aiken County has long been predominantly Republican, but a formal survey has found that more young people age 18 to 29 are moving toward the Democratic Party.
There’s only one problem with that, said Dr. Bob Botsch, a USC Aiken political science professor who coordinates a community survey each year.
“Let’s distinguish between the general population and those who vote,” he said. “Even if the Democrats have the majority of those under 30, that group is the least likely to vote, although they did a little better in the last presidential election.”
Students in Botsch’s research methods class perform the annual survey as part of their course experience.
Based on telephone calls, the survey included 37 questions on national issues, seeking opinions, party identification and demographic information.
President George Bush’s popularity has plummeted nationally, but not quite as much in Aiken County. Nationally, 64 percent of Americans disapprove of his job as president, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll. Only 47 percent don’t approve of his performance in Aiken. Yet that’s still higher than the 40 percent who do approve.
Over the past decade, Botsch said, Bush and Bill Clinton let some key openings pass them by. Without Clinton’s personal morality issues, Al Gore probably would have won the 2000 election and would have cemented those who were moving toward the Democratic Party.
“Bush had the same historical opportunities because of 9/11,” Botsch said. “Unfortunately for the Republicans and the country, Iraq hasn’t turned out so well. We have another flawed, if not failing president and perhaps another opportunity blown.”
About 55 percent of those Aiken County residents polled said the situation in Iraq was not worth going to war for, while 38 percent said the decision to go to war was appropriate. The numbers in the national poll differed only slightly. Botsch said in his report that views on the war are strongly related to views on Bush’s job performance.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Aiken County survey indicates that 35 percent of those polled will vote Republican, compared to 32 percent Democratic. Another 18 percent aren’t sure which primary they will vote in, and 15 percent said they don’t intend to vote.
But survey questions are often skewed by the “good intentions” factor, Botsch wrote in the survey report. Turnout in primary elections is usually about 30 percent of eligible voters, so many more people actually won’t vote even though they said they would.
Typically, Republicans tend to vote more than Democrats, so the numbers in January should be higher for the GOP than in the survey. Still, Botsch said residents seem unusually interested in the Democratic primary.
Hillary Clinton enjoyed a 35 percent to 23 percent edge over Barack Obama in the poll for those intending to vote in that primary, with John Edwards third at 16 percent. Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson led a wide-open vote with 16 and 15 percent. Since the survey was taken, however, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have topped the Iowa caucus polls. Results from Iowa and New Hampshire could impact results in Aiken County and South Carolina.

The Aiken Standard

Help us celebrate the first year of a Democratic Congress!

The South Carolina Democratic Party will host the 2007 Federal Delegation Reception Tuesday, Nov. 27 at the Law Offices of Nelson Mullins located on the 17th Floor of the Meridian Building at1329 Main Street in Columbia, SC. US Congressmen James E. Clyburn and John Spratt will be the honored guests for this event, which begins with a Hosts’ Reception at 5:30 p.m.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler will host this event along with co-hosts Steve Benjamin, Mayor Bob Coble, Ell Close, Joe Erwin, Don Fowler, Dick Harpootlian, Governor Jim Hodges, Bill Nettles, Marva Smalls and Inez and Samuel Tenenbaum.

Ready to party? Well, for more information on joining the Federal Delegation Host Committee or to purchase tickets, please contact Ashley Medbery at 1.800.841.1817 or amedbery@scdp.org.

To purchase tickets online, visit: http://www.scdp.org/events/2007/11/27/delegationreception/register/

Who? What? When? Where? And how?

Do you have a question or two that you’ve been wanting to ask the South Carolina Democratic Party Chair? Well, you won’t have to wait much longer.

The South Carolina Democratic Party will host a Yellow Dog Online Chat with Carol Fowler Nov. 28 from 6 to 7 p.m. Stay tuned for more details.

George W. “Compassionate” Bush, our beloved “no child left behind” president, has vetoed the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

This bill was designed to protect 10.6 million children whose families cannot afford private insurance, whereas the current program protects only 6.6 million.

The cost of the bill for one year would approximately equal the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan for one month, but President Bush claims that is far too much money for the U.S. government to spend on children’s health care.

Even more appalling is the fact that our four S.C. Republican congressmen and our two senators voted against this bill, agreeing with President Bush not to add 70,000 S.C. minors to the 61,000 currently insured under SCHIP.

Pressure must be put on our Republican congressmen, urging them to support this legislation when it comes up for a veto override vote. They need to learn that they are not representing their constituencies by denying health insurance to our children.

We have the power now to put pressure on our congressmen.

I urge everyone to exercise their power through calls, letters, e-mails and, just as important, their vote.

OPAL BROWN

The State newspaper reported recent poll results (Women Key in ‘08 by Aaron Gould Sheinin) showing that more than a third of black women were still uncertain about how they’d vote in South Carolina’s presidential primary.

Among the people interviewed in the article were Bamberg student Nancy Rivers and Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter, whose impressions seemed to mirror poll results.

The State writes:

Rivers said she rejects the stereotype she should support Obama because she is black or Clinton because she’s a woman. “There has to be more to it than that,” she said. State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said the stereotype Rivers mentions is pervasive in many black communities, and helps explain the large percentage of undecided black females.

“There are a lot of black women who are torn between Obama and Clinton,” said Cobb-Hunter, who has not endorsed any candidate.

There is an automatic assumption, she said, that black women will support Clinton because of their shared gender or Obama because of their shared race.

“In the circles I have moved around in, it really is a difficult choice and women really seem to be asking themselves - does race trump gender or does gender trump race?” Cobb-Hunter said.