Alvin Greene UPSET: Mystery Man Stuns In South Carolina Senate Primary

[cory777]

Source: Huffington Post

COLUMBIA, S.C. — An unemployed military veteran who raised no funds and put up no campaign website shocked South Carolina's Democratic Party leadership by capturing the nomination Tuesday to face Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in November.

With nearly all precincts reporting, Alvin Greene, 32, commanded 59 percent of the vote against 41 percent for former four-term state lawmaker Vic Rawl, 64, who had raised about $186,000 and had to abruptly scrap a late-week fundraiser for the fall.

State Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler said voters unfamiliar with either candidate may have voted alphabetically for Greene over Rawl.

"As far as I know, he never showed up at anything. Vic Rawl has been campaigning everywhere from the time he filed," she said.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/08/alvin-greene-upsets-vic-r_n_605365.html

[Downwinder]

1. Anybody know what voting machines are in use in SC?

[4lbs]

2. They are still using those freaking Diebold touch screens.

So, there you go.

[Downwinder]

3. Enough said.

[krispos42]

11. Ha! That was the VERY FIRST QUESTION that popped into my head!

"What vote-flipping?" O8)

[Jennicut]

4. Gawker: Random Unemployed Dude Wins South Carolina Democratic Primary

Some unemployed guy defeated a former legislator in South Carolina's Democratic senate primary. He had no money, no signs and no website. Did he win because of his brilliant policies? Or because his last initial came first in the alphabet?

Tonight, 32 year-old unemployed veteran Alvin Greene won a 16-point victory over his seemingly much more qualified opponent, 64 year-old Vic Rawl, a former judge and legislator. Greene did not fundraise at all, while Rawl had about $186,000 in cash, according to the AP. Greene is such a nobody that the Huffington Post asks at the end of their article: "Do YOU know anything about Alvin Greene? Do you have any photos of him? Email us."

Greene really does seem like some random dude. Here's what he told a reporter for the Columbia Freetimes, when they asked why he was spending so much of his own money to campaign against a popular incumbent, Republican senator Jim DeMint:

Asked if he thought it was a good investment to spend so much of his own money in a two-way Democratic primary to run against a popular Republican with millions in campaign cash, Greene replied: "Rather than just save the $10,000 and just go and buy gasoline with it, just take and just be unemployed for even longer period of time, I mean, that wouldn't make any sense, um, just, um, but, uh, yes, uh … lowering these gas prices … that will create jobs, too. Anything that will lower the gasoline prices. Offshore drilling, the energy package, all that."

Oh, OK! So how did he win? The chairwoman of the South Carolina Democratic party speculated to the AP that "people who didn't know either candidate and voted alphabetically may help explain Greene's win."

Alvin Green: An inspiration to random unemployed dudes everywhere.
http://gawker.com/5558760/random-unemployed-dude-wins-south-carolina-democratic-primary

This is totally weird.

[struggle4progress]

24. I think I'll change my last name to Aaah, move to SC, and run for office

[Retrograde]

39. That's why California mixes up the names

The names on California ballots are not listed alphabetically: they're randomized, and each district has a different permutation. The MSM had a lot of fun mocking this during the recall election some years back, but it does keep someone from getting elected just because his or her name comes first.

[iamthebandfanman]

5. anybody know anything about this guy ?

heard he lives with his parents?

[wordpix]

54. the KO interview proves he has a verbal expressive disorder, and Rep. Clyburn is investigating

who paid for Greene to run. Greene himself coudl barely say "yes" to KO's questions about meeting groups and going around his district. :crazy:

[The abyss]

6. This is an interesting story!

Recommend +1

[FarLeftFist]

7. He just almost landed an awesome job with great benefits

[Kall]

8. Hah!

Late Tuesday, stunned Democratic leaders in South Carolina struggled to comprehend how the little-seen candidate upstaged Rawl, a moderate Southern Democrat they viewed as their far stronger bet against DeMint.

I could help them with that. Moderate Southern Democrats (read: conservatives) do nothing to inspire and stand for nothing that makes people care about voting for them. The sooner they unlearn the lesson that imitating Republicans is a winning strategy, the better.

[Puppyjive]

9. If you have no money, you'll get my vote

I think the voters feel like I do. I am sick and tired of corporate money paying for our so-called democracy. I often vote for the candidate with the least amount of money.

[Turbineguy]

10. Diebold elects unknown candidate

to run against DeMint.

[Tx4obama]

12. The truth is .....

many people have no idea who they vote for.
A lot of people vote for the 'name' that sounds good to them.
For the first few decades when I went to vote for 'a president' I didn't have a clue who the other people where on the ballot and picked the names that 'sounded good' - tons of folks do that.

Just the other day results were released for a poll regarding 'what are the names of the Supreme Court justices' - 2/3 of Americans polled could NOT name even one justice. Only ONE PERCENT could name all nine (I wasn't in the poll, but I am proud to say that I can name all nine of 'em).

The majority of Americans can NOT name the 'three branches of government'.

Does anyone actually believe that the majority of Americans really know who they vote for or that the majority of people that vote really know what side of the issues a candidate stands for? I think the same (or better results could be had) by a flip of a coin!

[KamaAina]

41. I'll leave a race blank rather than vote for a name that "sounds good"

years ago in Illinois, a LaRouchie managed to get the Dem nomination for Lt. Governor simply by putting her Anglo name on th ballot against the real Dem's Polish one. This worked well enough, especially downstate, to get her the nomination -- and for Dem gov nominee Adlai Stevenson III to go third-party rather than run with the LaRouchie, effectively handing the election to the repukes. :(

[happyslug]

51. Reminds me of a saying FDR said in 1936

FDR told his speech writers NEVER to put the GOP candidates name in any of his speeches. They could call him "my opponent","The Republican Candidate" etc but NOT his name When ask why FDR responded by saying some people go into the Voting booth and vote for the name they knew the best. Thus the more you name your opponent, the more people hear his name and the more people will vote for him. As to FDR himself, he told the same speech writers NOT to worry about the GOP, they were to busy saying "Roosevelt this" or "Roosevelt That", so they will spread FDR's name throughout the Country. Truman followed this advice in 1948, he did NOT run against Dewey (Who he rarely mentioned in his speeches) but the "Do nothing GOP Controlled Congress".

The GOP had won the House and Senate in 1946 for the first time since 1932 (1930 if you ignore the fact the GOP won most of the seats to the house in 1930, but then lost 14 members to deaths BEFORE Congress ever sat, the results of the Special Elections gave the Democrats the Majority). The lost it in 1948 but won both back in 1952 with Eisenhower. The Democrats won back the House and Senate in 1954. The Democrats then held the House till 1994. The GOP won back the Senate in 1980 with Reagan, with the Democrats winning it back in 1986. Both houses stayed Democratic will 1994, when the GOP won both houses. In the 2000 election the Senate was 50-50 and this controlled varied depending on who was Vice President (See the US Senate cite below for details). From 2006 the Senate and the House have been under Democratic Control.

Who controlled the Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm

Control of the House:
http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/partyDiv.html

When I wrote about Truman I then had to add who controlled Congress since 1930.

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Eff the Fowlers!

This is what they get for turning the SC Dem party into a cozy little nest for themselves. They rarely bestir themselves to actually function as true leaders.

This could have been an anti-Fowler vote.

Don Fowler was the idiot who did this:
"ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Former DNC Chairman Don Fowler apologized on Sunday for joking in a private conversation that the timing of Hurricane Gustav demonstrates that God is on the side of the Democrats."

Carol Fowler is the idiot who did this:
On Wednesday, South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler told a reporter for the website Politico that Sen. John McCain chose a running mate "whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn't had an abortion."

Don't be so sure it was the Diebold machines. The majority of the voters know as much about Greene as they do about Rawl.

In 2008, this is the lunatic who won the Dem primary:
Bob Conley:
“Bob Conley is not publicly endorsing Obama. That’s his personal business, he said, adding that his dream ticket would be led by Pat Buchanan, with Ron Paul as vice president…”

****Conley's candidacy is an example of what happens when a party doesn't have a viable candidate, College of Charleston political scientist Bill Moore said. In this case, voters picked someone lacking Democratic credentials and the money to put on a credible race.****

They have let the party atrophy so much that they have ruined it. It's always been an uphill fight, but when it got harder, they got more insular and less involved. In SC, you have to work twice as hard, and this is what you get if you continually don't.

They back somebody who has some credentials and expect the general party voters to elect him. Beyond their little group, they probably don't know who is actually going to vote in the Dem party. They backed Clinton over Obama which is no sin. However, they are so arrogant and stupid that the way they do things makes people furious.

I didn't vote for Greene. However as an unemployed, military veteran, he is the perfect person to run against DeMint if he has 2 functioning brain cells and somebody will back him.

This could be some Rethug monkey business, but why would they bother???

This will be interesting as it plays out. He can't be worse than Conley.

You know how it makes you feel when the leadership seems to ignore your views? Welcome to that when it is taken to an extreme by those leaders.

[Downwinder]

21. Does he have a contribution web site? How to get a contribution

to him?

[zogofzorkon]

14. Perhaps they were just voting Green n/t

[clixtox]

15. That makes more sense than some of the other rationalizations I've read! N/T

[Lasher]

16. Greene's name came up first on the ballot.

Unthinking voters chose the first of two names they didn't recognize.

[zogofzorkon]

17. What no sympathy vote for the underdog? Seems unlikely.

[Lasher]

18. Why does that seem unlikely?

[sendero]

20. Bullshit..

.... what a bogus excuse.

[Lasher]

23. I can summon no defense against such a thoughtful and reasoned argument.

I bow to your superior intellect.

[sendero]

45. Such ridiculous assertion...

... reminiscent of the stupidest of drooling spinning Republicans, isn't worth rebutting with reason as it is based on nothing what-so-fucking-ever itself.

[Lasher]

46. I think somebody forgot to take his happy pill today.

I kinda like you anyway. Do you think there's a chance you and I could get to be pals? Hope so.

:hug:

[sendero]

48. Prolly not..

... but thanks for asking :)

[sendero]

19. Anyone that hasn't noticed..

... the virulent strain of anti-incumbency throughout this election is not paying attention.

[Lasher]

25. This is about Greene and Rawl

Which one was running as an incumbent? I must not have been paying attention.

[UpInArms]

22. well, everyone is trying go "Greene" these days!

:shrug:

[CanonRay]

26. Alphabetical?

That sounds about like the level of South Carolina voters. Well, I guess it really doesn't make any difference down there.

[Freddie Stubbs]

29. Ballot placement is important in low profile races

Voters who don't know any of the candidates tend to vote for the first one.

[CanonRay]

31. U.S. Senate is a "low profile' race?

That's an interesting take.

[Freddie Stubbs]

34. It is when the race is to decide who is going to be a sacraficial lamb

[dgibby]

27. My guess is that lots of Republicans voted for him,

as Rawl would have been the more viable candidate against DeMint.

[The Croquist]

32. Probably not

The SC Republican Primary for Governor was a high profile race so I doubt that many crossed from Republican to Democrat. There were 188,347 votes cast in the Democratic Gubernatorial primary compared to 419,693 in the Republican Gubernatorial primary. 31% of the votes were cast in the Democratic primary. In 2006 with an incumbent Republican (lower profile) 36% of the votes were cast in the Democratic primary.

[stanwyck]

56. Like here in Georgia, SC is an open primary. This is how

both Cynthia McKinney and Bob Barr were eliminated during their respective primaries: Dems voted Barr off the ballot and Repubs did the same to McKinney. The rightwing radio stations here in Georgia heavily promoted eliminating McKinney to their rightwing audience, who responded by showing up and voting for her opponent. Many Dems did the same to Barr, eliminating him, also. This easily could also have happened in SC. The real question is: who paid the $10,000 filing fee for this candidate who was unemployed.

[wordpix]

55. Clyburn is investigating whether or not this is a "plant"---implying maybe a repuke plant

[and-justice-for-all]

28. This whole thing seems fowl to me...nt

[Uncle Joe]

30. Maybe they voted for the environment, particulary after the Gulf oil Gusher, a name

like Greene, might be advantageous particulary if the voters aren't familiar with the candidates.

Alvin Greene

"I would've liked very much to be a candidate against Jim DeMint," Rawl said, describing his sole primary rival as something of a mystery. "I never saw him. I've still never met him."

As for Greene, he couldn't explain it either but thanked voters in a state numb with high unemployment and said: "Let's continue to make history and get South Carolina back to work."

Greene said he spent a total of 13 years in the Air Force and Army before leaving the Army in August.

Thanks for the thread, cory.

[yorgatron]

33. his opponent is a career politician,which is the same as incumbent for a lot of folks.

and maybe word got around the African-American community that they didn't have to vote for a good ol'boy this time.
and maybe they heard he was a vet,and they wanted to do more than just lip service to "support the troops" for once in their lives?
could be all those things,and more.
I say,good luck to him.

edit for speling.

[Uncle Joe]

35. Yes, I agree

that could have played a large part in their decision making.

I do hope he becomes a strong environmentalist as well, should he be elected.

I also wish him luck.

[tigereye]

42. best explanation so far- I would assume it has something to do with a good

proportion of Dems being fed up with party antics (as is often the case here on DU) - seems like a message to Dem leadership on some level.

[Duchess]

36. S.C. Dem winner faces felony charge

S.C. Dem winner faces felony charge


South Carolina Democrats got a bit of a surprise Tuesday night when a little-known candidate won the party’s Senate nomination.

But they got an even bigger surprise Wednesday after a report that their newly-minted nominee was facing a pending felony charge of showing a college student obscene photos

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38324.html

[Uncle Joe]

37. Well as he's not a Republican that will probably put a damper on his election chances.

[Blue_Tires]

38. this is starting to reek

[GoddessOfGuinness]

40. That's the trouble with voting for someone you don't know.

It's an election...Not a freaking box of chocolates.

[tigereye]

43. hey lady!

How the hell are ya? :hi:


Long time no see!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

49. Hi Tigereye!

I caught the Facebook bug, and have been spending waaay too much time there instead of waaay too much time here at DU. How's life treating you and your family?

[underpants]

44. Similar thing happened in Huntington WV mayoral race 10 years ago

there were two former mayors running against each other
no one really like either one but they had gotten their nominations

as a lark a kid at Marshall went down to city hall and registered as a candidate
He won

This was his second job ever, the first being at McDonald's

be got re-elected in 2004

[Lasher]

47. I'd forgotten that true story.

Thanks for the reminder.

[murdoch]

50. Alvin Greene is the best candidate for Senate in the US

'Greene's campaign slogan is "Let's get South Carolina back to work," and he stayed on message today, telling ABC News, "My campaign is about the unemployed. We spend more money on locking people up than we do on getting people jobs."'

This is the most progressive platform I've heard from a candidate in a while. Where do I send the donation? Go Alvin!

[ItNerd4life]

52. Maybe it was the anti-incumbent vote. nt

[BridgeTheGap]

53. SC doesn't require party affiliation at the time of registration. It is declared on election day

by the voter at the polls (in the primary).

622, 810 ballots cast (24% turnout).

In U.S. Senate Dem primary - 173,829 votes cast. (Doesn't seem to indicate much crossover voting, but then, is there really such a thing where voters don't have to declare when they register?).

Now monkeying with Diebold voting machines - couldn't possibly EVER happen, right? ;-)