Alvin Greene tries to win Dem nomination for SC House District 64 (UPDATE: GREENE GETS 36 VOTES)
The headaches for South Carolina Democrats continue:
Three months after losing his improbable campaign for U.S. Senate, Alvin Greene is setting his sights a lot lower.
The 33-year-old Democrat who became an international celebrity last year by winning his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate with no campaign signs, ads or appearances, is trying to win the Democratic nomination for a state House seat anchored in his hometown of Manning.
Residents in Clarendon County and a small part of Williamsburg County head to the polls for the special election primary Tuesday. None of the candidates are taking Greene lightly, even if they haven’t seen “Greene for House” signs or run into him shaking hands and making speeches.
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Greene missed several candidate debates, including a forum last month that some thought might finally be a chance to get the debate he was never given by his challenger last year, Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint.
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Greene isn’t talking about his strategy for this race. He told a reporter from The Associated Press “no comment” on the phone Monday when asked what kind of campaigning he has been doing, and said he didn’t know where he was going to wait for returns. He was even cagy when asked how he thought he might do in the primary.
“I have no comment,” Greene said, pausing for several seconds. “But I feel OK. So far, so good.”
Criminal charges are still hanging over Greene’s head. He was indicted in August on a felony charge of showing pornography to a teenage student in a South Carolina college computer lab and a misdemeanor charge of communicating obscene materials to a person without consent.
Greene’s lawyer has said his actions in the computer lab were an attempt to flirt with the student. The student’s mother says she was traumatized.
Having Greene on the ballot hasn’t changed the dynamics of the race much, said Manning Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is on the ballot along with Stewart and Clarendon District 1 School Board member Bernard Richburg. Two Republicans are also running for the seat left vacant when Rep. Cathy Harvin died in December.
Instead of Greene, people are talking about jobs — Clarendon County ranked ninth in unemployment in the state at 15.5 percent in December — and leadership.
“You can’t ever count anyone out,” Johnson said. “But I haven’t seen him doing much.”
And retail politics, like chicken dinners and knocking on doors can be very important in this kind of race, said Cal Land, chairman of the Clarendon County Democratic Party.
“This is probably who you know and who knows you kind of thing,” Land said. “It’s a rural area where most people probably know personally who they are voting for.”
Fair point, but as we learned from the wacky SC Democrat primary last year, never say never …
Oh, and yes: There will be exit polling coming out of that little district. I’m not sure of District 64’s population, but in last year’s election – which saw 52% of registered voters in SC going to the polls – the District’s former state representative, the late Cathy Harvin, received 8800 votes.
Will be interesting to see what happens with Greene in the event he doesn’t win the primary. Remember, he has floated the possibility of running for President …
Update – 10:14 PM: The results are in. Greene got 36 votes out of 4,000 cast.