Politics is Power Kicks Off "The Wake Up Tour 2010"

by: dwilson

Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 15:15:52 PM EST

Few "Crown Jewels" in SCDP Leadership

by: Atlas

Mon May 04, 2009 at 01:05:41 AM EDT

If you’re a Democrat running for office in South Carolina there is one group of voters who may help you win a landslide in the primary and who are definitely needed in the general election. According to recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center:

Much of the surge in black voter participation in 2008 was driven by increased participation among black women and younger voters. The voter turnout rate among eligible black female voters increased 5.1 percentage points, from 63.7% in 2004 to 68.8% in 2008. Overall, among all racial, ethnic and gender groups, black women had the highest voter turnout rate in November's election-a first.

Political analysts say African-American women voters could largely determine the outcome of next week's first-in-the-South Democratic primary. If history is a guide, that important voting block will account for more than a third of all Democratic voters.

 And the New York Times put in its two cents:

Plan B

by: Atlas

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 00:01:52 AM EDT

The only difference between SCGOP and SCSOB is a little B.S. And now, some South Carolina Republicans want the rest of us to step into it, too. Apparently, the good 'ol boys and gals at the Greenville branch are suing their beloved rebel flag waving state to require voters to choose a political party when they vote. It seems like the only independents you're going to find in South Carolina is at a tea party. According to the Associated Press:

Samuel Harms, the chairman of the Greenville County GOP, claims the state law that allows voters to cast their ballot in whichever primary they choose to participate violates the First Amendment's right of free association.

What an ironic last name for a Republican county chairman, don't you think? Speaking of irony, I distinctly remember the current leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, telling his little lemmings to vote for then Sen. Barack Obama in the primaries because he would be easier to beat than former Sen. Hillary Clinton. Yeah, that didn't work out too well for you guys, did it?

In a blood red state where Republicans win pretty much all of the time this proposal seems a little odd. But, with slowly shifting demographics and a black population that voted en masses for President Obama why take any chances? If you can't screw over voters with Plan A take hint from those communist-loving, baby killer, homosexual loving folks and try Plan B. But, unlike Plan B, this particular tactic usually gives birth to failure.

Working Families / Fusion Voting

by: Finx

Tue Feb 03, 2009 at 09:30:00 AM EST

South Carolina Working Families is a grassroots, community and labor based political party. We strive to make elected officials address issues that matter most to working-class, middle-class, and poor families that work hard to make ends meet--issues like jobs, health care, education, and housing. We are a membership driven party that works on both issue and electoral campaigns. Our organizing strategy is to start local, think long-term, combine campaign work with organizing and education, and not waste supporters’ votes on candidates with no chance of winning.

http://scwfp.org/

Fusion Voting puts third party support behind candidates who support the goals of the organization. Makes sense. Oregon site has a list of resources:

  http://www.oregonwfp.org/fusion.html

First, we take Manhattan...

by: Finx

Fri Jan 16, 2009 at 09:05:03 AM EST

..then we take Berlin..

With apologies to Leonard Cohen.

I have made some comments in regards to an across the state proggressive politcal strategy that would be all-district, all-county. This article by Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com fame, focuses on the huge success Obama had in urban amaerica. Not to discount our rural brothers and sisters, but if we focused our energies and organized our forces in specific urban area and urban legislators, could moving the big three cities (Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville) in a more progressive direction be enough? Does that ignore to much of the population/ new voters/communities? Or are the issues so is the systematic and state-wide that all areas must be considered?

Anne Peterson Hutto to be sworn in Tuesday

by: Jennifer Read

Sat Dec 27, 2008 at 18:55:46 PM EST

Are you on the list?

by: Jennifer Read

Mon Dec 01, 2008 at 15:22:27 PM EST

The Charleston County Democratic Party needs your help to track down 450+ James Island and Folly Beach residents that ousted S.C. Rep. Wallace Scarborough has accused of committing voter fraud during the general election.

Scarborough - who lost his re-election bid to Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto by just 211 votes - is protesting the November 4 results in the hopes of winning a do-over election against Hutto.

In his protest to the S.C. Election Commission, Scarborough claims that hundreds of House District 115 residents voted illegally and, therefore, their ballots should be tossed out.

In response, the Charleston Dems have created a new website listing the names of these alleged 'illegal voters.' If you're on the list or know someone who is, please call the Charleston County Democratic Party at 843-577-6000.

The S.C. Election Commission will hear Scarborough's protest on Wednesday, December 3 at 1 p.m. in the Blatt Building in Columbia.

Fowler to Scarborough: Put Up or Shut Up

by: Jennifer Read

Fri Nov 14, 2008 at 18:59:05 PM EST

Earlier this week, Rep. Wallace Scarborough -- who lost his re-election bid to Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto by just 211 votes -- filed a formal protest urging the South Carolina Election Commission to throw out 700 ballots which he believes were 'illegally' caste on November 4. According to Scarborough, hundreds of unnamed voters either moved out of the district or out of their precincts prior to Election Day, thus invalidating their standard ballot votes.

Today in response, SC Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler called on Rep. Scarborough to release the list of 700 voters on James Island and Folly Beach who the ousted incumbent alleges "illegally" voted in the November 4th General Election.

"Wallace Scarborough's protest is redefining the term sore loser. It's bad enough that he won't accept the will of the voters; now he's making unsubstantiated claims that over 700 of the people he once represented are engaged in some kind of voter fraud," Fowler said. "If Mr. Scarborough really believes that there are over 700 criminals running around these parts, he should release their names immediately. If he's unwilling to back up his claims, then he should concede and apologize for his careless accusations."

Scarborough files election protest

by: Jennifer Read

Wed Nov 12, 2008 at 14:30:39 PM EST

Perhaps to no one's surprise, earlier today, ousted S.C. Rep. Wallace Scarborough filed a formal protest of the House District 115 election results.

In his appeal, the defeated GOP incumbent argues that "in excess of 700" ballots were somehow illegally cast and, therefore, the results of the race should be thrown out and a new special election granted.

As you'll recall, last week, Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto narrowly defeated Scarborough by 211 votes, and while not a large margin of victory, the final tally was great enough to stave off an automatic recount.

In fact, Scarborough's hail-Mary protest comes on the same day that the South Carolina Election Commission officially certified Peterson Hutto as the winner of the HD 115 race. Charleston County certified the race results last Friday.

In response to Scarborough's protest, Peterson Hutto's campaign manager, Mike Meehan, issued the following statement accusing the incumbent of being a "sore loser" and calling on Scarborough to accept the election results and move on:

LIVE: South Carolina Election Night Coverage

by: Jennifer Read

Tue Nov 04, 2008 at 18:58:58 PM EST

It's been an historic campaign season, and we're in the final hours of the homestretch now.

We'll be posting updates and race results below throughout the evening, and we invite everyone to chime in and let us know what you're hearing and thinking as the results begin to trickle in.

If you need any help commenting or have any tips you'd rather email, give us a shout out at admin@indigojournal.com.

***UPDATE: Click here for a full list of results from South Carolina's federal and state races.

11:50 p.m. - I'll publish the remaining results in a separate post that will be up tomorrow. We have a number of races in the South Carolina Lowcountry at all levels that are likely to remain up in the air until tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for joining us. I'm gonna go listen to our future president address the nation now. Night all!

11:25 p.m. - Latest SC-01 numbers: Brown 53, Ketner 47 (little more than half of precincts reporting). Just spoke to the Ketner campaign, more than 35,000 absentee ballots still to be counted in Charleston County. This one likely to go late into the night/tomorrow a.m.

11:20 p.m. - John McCain giving a very classy concession speech from Arizona.

11:15 p.m. - Obama wins Virginia, Florida, California, Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico. Tops 333 electoral votes so far.

11:00 p.m. - CNN, CBS, NBC: BARACK OBAMA WINS 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION!!!

10:45 p.m. - SC Senate winners: Brad Hutto (D-40), Tom Davis (R-46). SC House winners: Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D-66), Ken Hodges (D-121), Shannon Erickson (R-124). Mike Rose now leads Bill Collins 53-47 with 56% of precincts reporting.

Charleston GOP Stealing Lunch?

by: Jennifer Read

Mon Nov 03, 2008 at 22:12:02 PM EST

----- Original Message -----
From: Lin Bennett
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 9:04 AM
Subject: NEED YOUR HELP ON TUESDAY NOV 4

You all may have read in the paper that the Democrats are going to hand out water and box lunches and provide chairs on election day. While this may seem like vote influencing (it is) there's a gray area. First, they must hand them out to everyone. Period. ANYONE who wants one should be provided one. The bottled water, box lunches and chairs cannot have any campaign literature on them. If they do, they must be 200 feet from the polling location. AND voters cannot bring the bottles or box lunches into the polling place.

So here's the plan.....please keep you eye out for this. We will know pretty early whether or not there's any campaign literature on them. Second, I'm asking everyone to get a box lunch and a bottled water. If you don't want it, take to a homeless shelter. Go in groups and collect a bunch of them. Then donate them. We would like to get as many of these off the street as possible. Go to precincts other than the one you vote at and collect them. AND if they refuse to give you one, please let us know quickly. You can call me on my cell 296-3105 or Linda Butler Johnson 696-7898 or Mark Hartley 224-5142.

Lin Bennett
Chairman
Charleston County Republican Party

According to the Chairman's email, the Charleston County GOP plans to scour local precincts, grabbing up as many boxed lunches as possible in order to thwart the efforts of Democratic voters across the Lowcountry who are hungry for change, and perhaps a little lunch meat.

If you spot any of these wily Republican hamburglars trying to steal voters' lunches at the polls tomorrow, let us know. Email us with your tips and pictures at admin@indigojournal.com.

(H/T to fellow Lowcountry blogger Dan Conover at Xark for flagging this one.)

Registration, Absentee Voting Break Records in S.C.

by: Jennifer Read

Tue Oct 28, 2008 at 14:48:07 PM EDT

The South Carolina State Election Commission has just confirmed that the Palmetto State has officially set a new record in the number of registered and absentee voters this year.

According to the Commission, approximately 2,552,000 voters are now eligible to vote in the 2008 General Election, a record high in South Carolina. The number of registered voters in the state has increased by 310,000 since January 1st.

Also, more than 218,000 absentee ballots have been issued throughout the state, far surpassing the previous record of 169,000 absentee ballots issued before the 2004 General Election.

To help ease the burden on voters, the Commission has sent out a list of tips (below the jump) -- including advice on how to vote absentee and avoid the Election Day drama altogether.

So which Party will benefit most from this new surge of voters? Poll below the jump...

Military vote not all Republican

by: Jennifer Read

Sun Oct 05, 2008 at 19:09:39 PM EDT

DEPLOYED TROOPS DONATE TO OBAMA OVER MCCAIN BY 4:1 MARGIN IN 2008

It's been a long-held misconception that U.S. service members and their families always vote Republican. But new research now confirms what many military families have always secretly suspected - that the political leanings within the military are as diverse as those among the general public.

And new statistics from the Center for Responsive Politics suggests that this group of brave Americans could influence the upcoming elections in a surprising way:

Voters of particular importance to Sen. Obama come election day are deployed troops, who've given him four times as much money as Sen. McCain, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, nonprofit research group that tracks campaign contributions. The Defense Department estimates that as many as 6 million service men and women live abroad and are eligible to vote.

November's election could contradict the long-held thought that the American military is a largely Republican voting bloc, said retired Navy Capt. Donald Inbody, now a University of Texas doctoral student researching the political attitudes of enlisted men and women.

Inbody said studies asking only senior commissioned officers about their political leanings have helped propagate the belief that the military is a GOP stronghold.

"The Republicans assume it as a given, and the Democrats look at this as an impenetrable bastion," Inbody said.

Inbody said the preliminary results of his research indicate political attitudes of enlisted servicemen and women and junior officers mirror those of civilians.

"What I'm seeing in the military is a heavy dose of middle-of-the-road and a lot more voters that are identifying themselves as independents," he said.

Source: Beaufort Gazette

SC Dems going door-to-door Oct 4

by: Jennifer Read

Fri Oct 03, 2008 at 12:29:57 PM EDT

The South Carolina Democratic Party is seeking volunteers to come out to one of the locations listed below to canvass key communities across the state.

If you're interested in helping out, let 'em know by signing up here. (Enter Oct 4 for date available and indicate which location you'd like to donate your time.)

List of volunteer locations and times below the jump.