Alvin Greene voter says it was the name that swayed her

WSAV-TV ^ | June 14, 2010 | Holly Bounds

[2ndDivisionVet]

(VIDEO AT LINK)

Beaufort -- He grabbed well over 50 percent of the democratic votes statewide in his run for US Senate. Same story in Beaufort County. But now, many who voted for Alvin Greene either won't admit it or now say they're ashamed.

Here’s another twist to the blame game of how this whole thing happened.

"I voted for him because his name sounded like the singer and I'd never heard of Vic Rawl,” Gail Westerfield of Beaufort said. "I didn't have name recognition-- so I went with the person who had the most...famous name. It's so bad."

Could it be that a man behind gospel and soul helped Alvin Greene -- a man with little to no campaign -- become South Carolina's Democratic candidate for US Senate?

An ashamed Gail Westerfield says that's what it boiled down to when before her were two names she'd never seen before.

"I had just never heard of either of these guys and it never occurred to me that anything like this could happen or my vote and that this other person I was with who shall go nameless that our votes would contribute to South Carolina being the butt of a joke again. I mean, I feel terrible about it,” she said.

Since Greene's victory we've learned much, much more -- that many wish they'd known before.

The unemployed veteran is facing a felony obscenity charge. His mental stability has been questioned by political leaders, and the Democratic Party is asking that he withdraw. But Greene says he's not going anywhere, leaving Gail humiliated she had something to do with it all.

"I mean, we're rivaling Florida now for the ridiculousness. I don't feel good about being a part of that,” she said.

Gail says she's not trying to justify her bad decision but she does wish that the Democratic Party would have put as much vigor in informing voters about the candidates as they have in the post-game of the primary.

[Genoa]

Don’t blame Rawl. He thought his name sounded black enough.

[Captain Peter Blood]

Reminds me of that Eddie Murphy movie, “The Distinguished Gentleman”, where his name was the same as the Congressman who dropped dead whose seat he was running for.

[x]

Petey Greene died too soon.

The outrageous ex-con radio host would have really relished being a Senator.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

I hope a Micheal Jackson doesn't show up on a ballot anywhere.

Anyone who would admit voting based only on a name is an example of exactly why democracy doesn't work.