SC Dems losing it over unknown Senate nominee; Clyburn calls him a “plant” and wants “investigation”
Via The Hill:
The man nominated as Democrats’ candidate for Senate in South Carolina might have been a “plant,” a high-ranking Democrat suggested Thursday.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) called on the U.S. Attorney’s office in South Carolina to investigate the circumstances that led to Alvin Greene winning the Democratic primary for Senate in the state earlier this week.
“There were some real shenanigans going on in the South Carolina primary,” Clyburn said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press radio show. “I don’t know if he was a Republican plant; he was someone’s plant.” The third-ranking House Democrat said he found it strange that Greene, a relative unknown prior to Tuesday, was able to produce the money to register and run for Senate, despite being unemployed. Greene allegedly tried to pay in cash, and Clyburn said he wondered whether or not an outside party might have funded that and Greene’s campaign, in violation of federal campaign finance laws.
Despite having no real campaign or prior political support in the state, Greene won the primary to face Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) this fall with nearly 59 percent of the vote — almost 100,000 votes.
The South Carolina Democratic Party called on Greene on Wednesday to drop out of the race after the Associated Press reported that the candidate is facing felony charges for having allegedly displayed pornographic images to a college student.
The funny thing about this? The chair of the SC Democrat party suggested that Greene won … because his name was on the ballot first:
The oddity of Greene’s candidacy has already prompted speculation from local media about whether he might be a Republican plant. But Greene denies that Republicans or anyone else had approached him about running. “No, no—no one approached me. This is my decision,” he said. A 13-year military veteran, he says he had originally gotten the idea in 2008 when he was serving in Korea. “I just saw the country was in bad shape two years ago…the country was declining,” he says. “I wanted to make sure we continue to go up on the right track.” But when asked whether there was a specific person or circumstance that precipitated his decision to jump into politics, Greene simply replied: “nothing in particular…it’s just, uh, nothing in particular.” South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler speculated that Greene won because his name appeared first on the ballot, and voters unfamiliar with both candidates chose alphabetically.
Uh … what does that tell you about the low opinion the SC Democrat party has of SC Democrat voters?? That said: What if she’s right? How the hell did this guy win? “Plant” or not, registered Republicans in SC’s open primary surely wouldn’t have voted for Greene en masse. To do so would have required a giant GOP conspiracy and, again, it just wouldn’t make sense.
In any event, I think Clyburn’s just blowing hot air; numerous polls including this one show that DeMint will likely win re-election in the fall. It doesn’t make sense that Greene would be a “Republican plant.” Even so, now that Clyburn’s called for an “investigation” I’m sure a hungry MSM will “be on the case” because SC is not only still reeling from the Sanford scandal but also the 11th hour kitchen sink “affair” allegations leveled at Nikki Haley by associates of a (now former) primary opponent. What’s one more scandal gonna hurt? 
Related reading: Results from the South Carolina primary.