Posted on 06/12/2010 5:29:59 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
MANNING - After his shocking win in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, 32-year-old Army and Air National Guard veteran Alvin Greene announced Friday that he has refused his party's request to bow out of the race.
Therefore, Greene was certified Friday as the Democratic nominee. He will face Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who is seeking a second term, in the November general election.
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler had asked Greene to resign from the race on Wednesday, saying that he failed to represent "South Carolina's values" due to a felony charge of disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity. The charge stems from an allegation that he showed a University of South Carolina student pornographic pictures at the school's Thomas Cooper Library in November.
She would rather see Vic Rawl, a current Charleston County councilman and former state representative who party leaders assumed would handily win the race, challenge DeMint.
"I did not do this lightly, as I believe strongly that the Democratic voters of this state have the right to select our nominee," Fowler stated. "But this ... information about Mr. Greene ... would certainly have affected the decision of many of those voters." Greene disagreed, telling The Item on Friday that he was elected fairly and substantially by state voters.
"I got 60 percent of the vote," he said. "I'm the nominee. The results have been certified. They want me out, but that's not going to happen. I'm in."
A graduate of Manning High School and the University of South Carolina, Greene seemed overwhelmed Wednesday and Thursday after nearly constant media attention.
He initially spoke with The Item on Wednesday from behind a partially opened screened door in his garage and did not allow anyone to take pictures. Dressed in track pants and a green T-shirt detailing a 1993 family reunion, Greene nervously swayed from side to side as he mumbled through answers to questions about how he managed to win an election with no website, signs or fliers during his campaign. He also declined to say where he had campaigned or how much he had spent other than $2,000 and a $10,400 filing fee, which he said came from two years of personal savings.
"I've done this all on my own, yeah, with my friends and friends of friends and family," Greene said of campaigning.
Regarding his pending charge, he said on Friday, "After the charges have been cleared, there shouldn't be any excuse. That's the only thing holding (the party) back. In a few weeks, when (the charges) go away, maybe they will (support me). I need the funds. I need the money ... I need ... I need ... "
As to how the charge might "go away," Greene said it could be adjudicated as a misdemeanor or reduced. He also said he could be acquitted, or the charge could be dropped.
State Election Commission spokesman Chris Whitmire said there is little the Democratic Party can do to challenge Greene's nomination.
Even so, it appears Greene will get little support from his party. Sumter native and House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., said Thursday that he believes Greene should be investigated, and officials noted Friday that the State Law Enforcement Division is now investigating Greene.
Rawl has until noon Monday to file a protest of the election with the party. Barring a successful challenge by Rawl, only a resignation by Greene for nonpolitical reasons would allow the party to hold a special primary.
"Those reasons are defined as reasons of health, family crises or substantial business conflicts," Whitmire said. "If it's not one of those immediately, then the burden of proof would be on the candidate withdrawing to show legitimate, nonpolitical reasoning, and the state commission would be the one to decide if it's legitimate."
ping
i think Wateree Community Actions had a part in this...
ACORN like group.
Looks like he isn’t communist enough. Democrats voted for a complete unknown rather than the party pick? Boy do they have issues..
Racists.
Just a guess but -——————95% of the black Obama vote??/
Some guy on MSNBC this morning said the reason Greene got the nomination is because of the e at the end of his name. He claimed whites use the name of Green and blacks use the name of Greene. So all the blacks voted for the candidate with the trailing e.
Republicans wound up in a position something like this in Vermont in 1998. They were stuck with Fred Tuttle, an ancient dairy farmer who didn’t want the job and only ran to defeat a Republican whom he saw as a carpetbagger. The comparison isn’t a perfect one, but there are paralells.
Once again, the Democrats prove who the true racists are.
He’s black, he’s Greene, he’s unemployed, he’s homeless, he’s a perv and a possible felon. I think he’s an ideal standard-bearer for the party, given all the Democrat constituency groups he represents. And if he’s a retard, that’s just one more Dem group.
And yet the Dems want to deny him the nomination he won fair and square. You tell me. Isn’t that racism?
No claim of crossover voting, no claim of fraud, just unspecified “dirty tricks”.
Was it 100,000 protest votes against the chummy insider, picked in a smoky back room?
Was his support from 100,000 minority voters, who had personal reasons for picking Greene?
Perhaps the (D) voters in SC should consider why they support such a racist party as the (D).
” Was it 100,000 protest votes against the chummy insider, picked in a smoky back room?”
How about protests against robocalls and spam emails?
“Was his support from 100,000 minority voters, who had personal reasons for picking Greene?”
Why ethnic voting is just unheard of in America! \s
I would’ve considered Tuttle to be a plant, and that documentary done on him was essentially testament to that. The leftist documentarians wanted no bonafide challenger to Leahy.
He seems to be the ultimate DIMocRAT: felonies, thrown out of the military, unable to express himself coherently, seemingly somewhat clueless. What’s not to like.
I had a 1991 family reunion, I liked it a lot, got great milage and had plenty of room in the back for the kids. I washed and waxed mine every weekend.
Isn’t it amazing ? We know more about this guy than we do about Zero. Imagine if he had received the media anal exam usually reserved for Republicans and “unwanted” Democrats like Mr. Greene...
I seem to remember someone saying that running a successful political campaign was all the experience he needed to be POTUS. By that standard, this guy should be be a shoo-in for leadership in the Senate.
It’s a trick. The dems are pretending that they don’t want this guy. He gains popularity by being the “un-democRAT” and this increases his chances in the upcoming election. Even with that going for him, his odds of beating DeMint are very slim, but it’s the best chance that the rats have. They surely couldn’t run their usual commie drones.
8<)
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