SC DUers: Kerry beat Edwards in ~6 SC counties - why?

[Sufi Marmot]

I noticed that Kerry beat Edwards in 6 South Carolina counties: Aiken, McCormick, Sumter, Bamberg, Beaufort, and Berkeley. He was within 4 points in Richland and Fairfield counties, which is the Columbia area, also in Allendale (next to Bamberg). Aiken, McCormick, and Bamberg are towards the SW edge of the "diamond", Beaufort is right at the very bottom of the state (the pointy part of the diamond). Berkeley is on the lower SE side, just NE of Charleston.

I'm curious as to whether there are any unusual demographics (military, former or current, for instance, or a particular industry whose unions back Kerry rather than Edwards...) in any of these counties which might have skewed them to Kerry rather than Edwards. Just curious - I thought it was interesting.

-SM, who congratulates Kerry, Edwards, and Clark and all their supporters on today's results... :-)

[blm]

1. Sumter is military - Shaw Air Force Base.

Ft. Jackson is near Columbia.

Alex Sanders (2002 Sen. candidate) was VERY popular in the Charleston area as Pres. of College of Charleston. He was on Kerry's team here.

I heard that Kerry did best amongst the hardest core Democrats. (mr.blm works in a newsroom down here)

[Sufi Marmot]

2. Thanks - that makes sense...

Are some of the other counties heavily Democratic? Many of them had small return numbers compared to "bigger" counties that favored Edwards, but I don't have a good feel for whether they're really smaller population-wise, or simply have a lower proportion of voting Democrats compared to some other counties.

-SM

[Leftist78]

3. hmm...

the only truly common theme that I can find in those counties is that they're all low country or midland counties. Shaw and Ft. Jackson could play a big part in the counties around Columbia, and Paris Island is just off the coast of Beaufort, so it could have been influenced by that.

The other counties have a large African American population which should have worked well for Edwards, but Clyburn is very influential in that part of the state among African Americans and other white Democrats so maybe that was the reason.

Honestly, I'm an upstate guy so I'm more familiar with things up here than things in the low country. Those flat-landers are a different breed :)

[Sufi Marmot]

4. One last kick before bedtime...n/t