Posted on 03/01/2007 4:22:47 PM PST by meg88
Presidential rivals grasp at straw-poll glory By AARON GOULD SHEININ asheinin@thestate.com
FILE PHOTOGRAPH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani More photos Anonymous critics aim at Romney Spartanburg — Agnes Spong thinks she’s landed in political heaven. The lifelong Republican from Upstate New York retired to Spartanburg two years ago and quickly discovered she was among friends.
“I think it was just about the greatest thing in the world,” Spong said Monday at Wade’s Restaurant prior to a campaign appearance by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
Spong is not alone in thinking this Upstate bastion of Republicanism is the greatest thing since Barry Goldwater.
Brownback and about a half-dozen other GOP presidential hopefuls are spending thousands of dollars and making countless campaign phone calls and personal visits to the county in advance of tonight’s straw poll vote.
The Spartanburg County Republican Party’s 93 precincts will meet to elect officers and county executive committee members. Then, participants will “vote” for their choice for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.
It’s a long way from primary day — but you wouldn’t know it.
“It’s been awful,” said Jimmy Moore, organizer at Westview A, one of the largest Republican precincts in the state.
“I have literally every single day gotten 10 calls from these people (candidates). It just gets annoying. If this is what’s happening a year out from the primary, what the heck is going to happen later?”
County party Chairman Rick Beltram said candidates are pouring money and energy into Spartanburg:
nþBrownback and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani have sent thousands of direct-mail pieces to Republican voters.
nþFormer Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is running TV ads and has done direct mail.
nþThose three, along with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., have visited the county in recent weeks.
CNN reported on the straw poll Wednesday. Beltram said Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” will broadcast straw-poll results live from county party headquarters tonight.
As Beltram explained the attention, his other phone line rang; it was The New York Times.
“The whole week, it’s been constant like this,” he said.
Why?
The answer depends on the campaign. For McCain, the S.C. front-runner, a good showing confirms his status. For Brownback, who’s on a different tier than McCain and Giuliani, it’s an opportunity to break through.
Moore agrees but says there is another reason: money. The winner gets to tell donors, “See, those Spartanburg County Republicans down in South Carolina love me, and that’s why you should give me money,” he said.
It also illustrates a candidate’s ability to win in a key county in a key state. George W. Bush won 58 percent of the vote in Spartanburg County in 2000. McCain had 36 percent. Bush won the state overall with 53 percent.
The GOP grip on the county is fierce. Gov. Mark Sanford took 61 percent of the county’s vote last year, up from 59 percent in 2002.
Even when Democrats win statewide, they typically lose Spartanburg. Democrat Jim Hodges defeated Republican incumbent Gov. David Beasley in 1998 but lost Spartanburg 48-52 percent. However, keeping the race close in Spartanburg also may be a key to Democratic success.
Jim Rex came as close as any Democrat, but still lost when he defeated Republican Karen Floyd for state education superintendent last year. Rex lost the county, where Floyd lives, by only about 200 votes.
The Spartanburg County Republican Party has been holding straw polls since 2001, Beltram said. The first one in late 2001 was for the 2002 gubernatorial primary. Then-Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler won — but not by much.
“Even though he won, people went back and said, ‘Wow, he’s vulnerable,’” Beltram said. Sure enough, Peeler was the top vote-getter in the primary but lost the runoff to Sanford.
In late 2003, the straw poll for the U.S. Senate primary gave Greenville’s Jim DeMint a boost. DeMint won the straw poll, finished second in the primary then swamped Beasley in the runoff.
All the attention is exhausting but encouraging, Beltram said.
“When I was elected chairman in 1999, I told delegates my No. 1 goal was to make the relevance of (the) Spartanburg County party as high as I can take it. That’s what we’ve done.”
Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658.
WHY SPARTANBURG?
Tonight’s straw poll: The event has grabbed national media attention.
Well, I'm totally confused. Are their 92 total precincts or 75? One place is saying 71/75 and the other is saying 81/92. How is the final number of votes calculated from the precincts to give numbers like 158 and 152?
The promise of securing the borders could pull California in.
We really don't know anything. We can project, guess, pretend, or fantasize, but we don't know. We will not know until about September 2008. Too many changing variables to really know for sure.
I like his views. I like his congressional expertise. I don't know anything about his management and administrative experience.
I live in MA. I like Mitt. I don't agree with him on some of the issues- that's a problem. He's a fantastic administrator, but totally useless when it comes to managing or persuading other elected pols. That's huge.
I'd love a candidate that had Duncan Hunter's views, Mitt's administrative skills, and Reagan's communication skills.
LOL Not gonna happen.
It's early, let's see what happens. If Duncan Hunter can win me over, great. If someone else joins the race, well we'll see about that too.
Hunter BTTT
Those are the big 2 issues in my mind: (1) Life (2) Security (War & Borders.)
I'm thinking that all conservatives can unite if those 2 main issues are covered.
But, the border states know the reality of this in ways that I don't.
Cheap and immediate tactic, until fences are built - take out billboards in Spanish and illustrate how Mexico chooses to fail her people.
Not great for international relations, but why should we support 6 or so corrupt Mexican business concerns? That's the root of the issue- Mexico isn't held responsible
This is the latest I've been able to find, from the State in South Carolina, AP source:
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/16814143.htm
The results in this one are the ones shown in the title of the thread.
Giuliani 158
Hunter 152
81 of 92 precincts showing.
I have no idea why there is no final tally yet?
Hi sl :) Thank you and it's super to see you! I still don't have an "answer" but I'm confident the docs are giving me great care & trying to get to the bottom of it. I believe all the "scaries" have been ruled out, so that's a big relief.
Hugs!
I would expect most McCain votes to go to Romney.
Oddly, in a national poll most Gingrich votes went to Gulliani.
I think Gulliani is a placeholder for people who want to wait until they know more about the other candidates before committing.
That's a fair statement, but Giuliani could have made a move at Hillary's Senate seat, and then we'd have seen if he'd be a viable threat in NY. He could have just hinted and then seen what the polls would do. He didn't have to actually run. But he stayed out of it.
My take is that he knew she had him. Taking NY will require him to speak out as the liberal that he is. And that will kill him with the base. After that, it'll be all over. President Hillary.
:-D
They could re-invent themselves as a religious caucus. Then they could post Caucus threads "The Pro-Rudy Caucus" and the rules would keep others from posting negative things about their religion in those threads.
There is something religious about the Rudy supporters.
Hunter did an excellent job convincing 150 people that they could make a real name for their county by picking him, without really hurting anything.
If you had that poll in our county, we might do something like put Gilmore first. I doubt that would mean Gilmore would win, just that he's a good conservative that would be a "safe" pick to send the message that it's too d*mn early to be worried about polling data.
Each candidate should be out articulating his or her message, and explaining what it is better than the other candidates (btw, noting differences in policy positions is not "bashing" nor does it violate Reagan's law -- calling people names does).
(((((cgk)))))
I am glad that the scary possibilities have been ruled out and that the doctors are giving you the best care.
Cheers,
sl
I would say, coming in second place with very little national coverage, that Hunter was the big winner tonight and that by any stretch, Rudy's strength, even though he has the most votes, is waining. If Rudy and Hunter were the only ones on that ballot in SC, I think Hunter wins big time.
There are a million reasons why Rudy did not make a move on Hillary's senate seat in 2006 - first and foremost being he did not want to be senator but president.
Rudy is running as Rudy. That is one of the things I admire about him. He is Rudy! He makes no apologies for it. Whereas I hope Duncan Hunter can win, I will have no trouble voting for Rudy in the general election.
President Hillary is not the sure bet that everyone fears it is either. Like I said, we have a long way to go until the conventions.
I'm sorry, but if he could win a primary made up of the most conservative part of the voting block, why would he have any trouble beating the liberal democrat opponent in the general election?
I don't think Rudy has a chance of winning the South Carolina Primary (which is a year away), but it's just fear-mongering to suggest that, having drawn more than half the republicans to vote for him, he wouldn't be able to get them to do so against Hillary, Obama, or Al Gore.
I guess is some pro-life conservative democrat ended up with the nomination, Rudy could have trouble.
I LOVE IT! It's odd, though, that the media STILL keep on ignoring him. They really hate him. He's got it, and the MSM only wants us to have RUDY. Frickin commie bastids.
That's a possibility. The other is that he figured out that it's much harder for a Senatorial or Congressional candidate to win the Presidency.
Plus there was the cancer treatment-- it's significant time to take out of the campaign to go, depending on whether chemo et al is necessary.
But even if I don't vote for him in the primaries (I don't know whom I will support yet), I can respect that he's a lot smarter than she is. Heck, Obama is showing that he's a lot smarter than she is. Obama may be an empty suit, but he's a smarter empty suit than she is.
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