Posted on 06/09/2010 12:58:31 PM PDT by dead
An unemployed 32-year-old black Army veteran with no campaign funds, no signs, and no website shocked South Carolina on Tuesday night by winning the Democratic Senate primary to oppose Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). Alvin Greene, who currently lives in his family's home, defeated Vic Rawl, a former judge and state legislator who had a $186,000 campaign warchest and had already planned his next fundraising event. Despite the odds, Greene, who has been unemployed for the past nine months, said that he wasn't surprised by his victory. "I wasn’t surprised, but not really. I mean, just a little, but not much. I knew I was on top of my campaign, and just stayed on top of everything, I just—I wasn't surprised that much, just a little. I knew that I worked hard and did," Greene said in an interview.
Greene insists that he paid the $10,400 filing fee and all other campaign expenses from his own personal funds. "It was 100 percent out of my pocket. I’m self-managed. It’s hard work, and just getting my message to supporters. I funded my campaign 100 percent out of my pocket and self-managed," said Greene, who sounded anxious and unprepared to speak to the public. But despite his lack of election funds, Greene claims to have criss-crossed the state during his campaign—though he declined to specify any of the towns or places he visited or say how much money he spent while on the road.
"It wasn’t much, I mean, just, it was—it wasn’t much. Not much, I mean, it wasn’t much," he said, when asked how much of his own money he spent in the primary. Greene frequently spoke in rapid-fire, fragmentary sentences, repeating certain phrases or interrupting himself multiple times during the same sentence while he searched for the right words. But he was emphatic about certain aspects of his candidacy, insisting that details about his campaign organization, for instance, weren't relevant. "I'm not concentrating on how I was elected—it's history. I’m the Democratic nominee—we need to get talking about America back to work, what's going on, in America."
The oddity of Greene’s candidacy has already prompted speculation from local media about whether he might be a Republican plant. But Greene denies that Republicans or anyone else had approached him about running. "No, no—no one approached me. This is my decision," he said. A 13-year military veteran, he says he had originally gotten the idea in 2008 when he was serving in Korea. "I just saw the country was in bad shape two years ago…the country was declining," he says. "I wanted to make sure we continue to go up on the right track." But when asked whether there was a specific person or circumstance that precipitated his decision to jump into politics, Greene simply replied: "nothing in particular...it's just, uh, nothing in particular." South Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler speculated that Greene won because his name appeared first on the ballot, and voters unfamiliar with both candidates chose alphabetically.
Greene has yet to speak to any Democratic officials, either. After filing to run, his campaign went dark. According to this report, he didn’t show up to the South Carolina Democratic Party convention in April and didn't file any of the required paperwork for candidates with the state or Federal Election Commission. When I spoke to him, the state’s Democrats had yet to contact him after his victory was announced.
Greene insists that he's planning to work with state and national officials to ramp up his campaign and raise money "as soon as I can." And he plans on putting his unemployment at the center of his campaign. "I’m currently one of the many unemployed in the state and this country. South Carolina has more unemployed now than at any other time," Greene says. "My campaign slogan: Let's get South Carolina back to work." He adds that he would like to see "one Korea under a democracy."
Sen. DeMint, a Tea Party darling and leader of the GOP's far-right flank, wasn't expecting a competitive challenge this election cycle. But conservative activists are already thrilled to see the Democrats' hand-picked candidate go down in flames. “Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,” tweeted Tea Party activist and Redstate blogger Erick Erickson after finding out about Greene’s victory.
Greene offered no volleys against DeMint, and he seemed to have more questions than attack lines when it came to the Tea Party. "What's the Tea Party’s position on wars in the Middle East? …I want to know the Tea Party's position on the wars in the Middle East?" he asked. But Greene says that he's excited about the prospect of taking on DeMint in the public arena: "I'm looking forward to the debate this September." DeMint and his supporters are no doubt looking forward to it too.
Update: Via the AP, Greene is facing a felony charge for allegedly showing obscene photos to a University of South Carolina student.
Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler speculated that Greene won because his name appeared first on the ballot, and voters unfamiliar with both candidates chose alphabetically.
The Democrat Party Chairwoman speculates that voters in her own party are so stupid that he was chosen alphabetically.
And Alvin Greene seems like their kind of guy.
"It wasn’t much, I mean, just, it was—it wasn’t much. Not much, I mean, it wasn’t much," he said, when asked how much of his own money he spent in the primary.
But Alvin, was it much?
Some unemployed folks seem to think that $10,000 dollars is a bit of a sum to spend on a filing fee.
Seriously, where did he get this money? And does the Democratic Party have another lautenbergian corpse they can roll into this spot?
Remember this fiasco the next time some liberal tells you Republicans are stupid. "I'm looking forward to the debate this September."
Who isn't?!
WHat the heck is going on with SC lately?
For some reason, I’m thinkin’ he’s gonna get around 29.2% of the vote in the General election.
Go to page 3: http://www.rupri.org/Forms/SouthCarolina.pdf
Oh, this makes me sad. I hope the Democrats embrace him and give him support. Seems like he needs some victory in his life.
“An unemployed 32-year-old black Army veteran with no campaign funds, no signs, and no website shocked South Carolina on Tuesday night by winning the Democratic Senate primary to oppose Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)”
Sounds like some voters are voting for skin color rather than looking deeper at qualifications, sort of like during our last presidential election.
And, of course, we had this brilliant bit of political ‘analysis’ a few days back:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2526476/posts
Welcome to SC Politics, where the stupidity will amaze you if the viciousness doesn't kill you!
There is nothing "democratic" about the "DemocRAT" Party!
Thank you for posting that link
all that hype that nitwit was espousing trying to talk up the Dem and this felon winds up winning
$10,000.00 is a HELL of a lot of money for this guy....WHY did he do it when he didn't bother CAMPAIGNING?? Sick joke??? Dare?? WHAT??
Amazing the DeMint is up against such a weak candidate, isn’t it?
obummers next czar?
Facing a felony gives him the aura of a political candidate.
They are too stupid to know how stupid they are.
Maybe he was hoping Obummer would give him a $150,000 per year job if he dropped out of the race. That’s a mighty fine return on his $10,000 investment.
maybe he is a plant. by democrats wanting to see if they can get a felon or an ignoramus on the ballot, just to find out how far they can go.
I’ve never seen a man in such dire need of a teleprompter.
I just saw Al Greene in concert about a year ago. Dude can still sing beautifully. Had the women screaming in the front rows too, as he handed out roses.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.