Loss of jobs a major political factor in S.C.

[surfermaw]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/7897430.htm


Loss of jobs a major political factor in S.C.
Republican governor says Edwards picked up on state's anxiety about economy
DAVID BRODER
Washington Post Writers Group

COLUMBIA, S.C. - When President Bush came to South Carolina on Thursday -- following on the heels of the Democratic presidential candidates, just as he had done (supposedly by coincidence) after the New Hampshire primary -- the headline in The State newspaper read: "Metro area job losses among nation's worst."

The story, streamed across the top of Page 1, reported that the two counties comprising the Columbia metropolitan area had shed 10,300 jobs last year and had 17,600 fewer jobs at the end of 2003 than were here four years earlier. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 3.3 percent job loss in 2003 in Columbia was exceeded only by those recorded in Steubenville, Ohio; Saginaw, Mich.; San Jose, Calif., and Lawrence, Mass.

Richland County Council Chairwoman Bernice Scott was quoted as saying that she now encounters more constituents with postgraduate degrees but without jobs. "It's awful," she told the newspaper. "The American dream is getting an education and getting a job. And the more education you have, the better the job. But there are no jobs to be had."

As it happened, Bush visited Charleston, not Columbia, and he chose to talk more about the war on terrorism, port security and homeland defense than the economy. But the headline here put an exclamation point on the reality that greeted all the Democratic candidates who campaigned in last Tuesday's primary -- a reality that helped power populist Sen. John Edwards to his 15-point victory

[mitchtv]

1. who wants to bet that * still gets those

electoral votes? I do.

[surfermaw]

2. Hungry babies, will bring them back to the fold, Democrat

Yep...things are a changing.