S.C. Democrats eye center stage
Posted Monday, April 14, 2003 - 6:55 pm
By Dan Hoover
STAFF WRITER
dhoover@greenvillenews.com
South Carolina Democrats are laying claim to the national stage with a candidate and political celebrity-studded "Dem Weekend 2003," state party chairman Dick Harpootlian said Monday.Combined with the party's May 2 Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner and its annual convention the next day, each featuring appearance by most of the 2004 Democratic presidential contenders, the weekend "only illustrates the prominence" South Carolina will play in deciding the nomination, Harpootlian said.
The state has been receiving extensive attention from the candidates for nearly a year because its Feb. 3, 2004 Democratic presidential preference primary will be the nation's third and the South's first in the current election cycle.
Nine Democratic presidential candidates have signed on for a debate that will be hosted by ABC News and made available to television stations around the state and nation, he said.
The 90-minute debate will begin at 8:30 p.m. on May 3 in the Longstreet Theater on the University of South Carolina campus. George Stephanopoulos, the Clinton White House aide turned broadcast commentator, will be the moderator. His own program, "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," will air from the theater at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Thomas Fowler of South Carolina Educational Television said the agency had no details yet, "but it's the sort of thing we'd like to run." SCETV has traditionally been the source for televised debates, from the high-profile Republican presidential primaries to last year's statewide campaigns.
Will Drake, political director for the state Democratic Party, said ABC News will not televise the debate but will make it available to SCETV, C-SPAN, and ABC affiliates.
The Jefferson-Jackson Day event will be held at Seawell's adjacent to the State Fairgrounds. U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will be the featured speaker for the 7 p.m. event.
The party's convention will elect a successor to Harpootlian who didn't seek a third two-year term. Greenville advertising executive Joe Erwin and Columbia activist Margaret Feagin are the two candidates for chairman.
Three South Carolina Democrats with national political credentials are involved in planning the events, Harpootlian said. They are Don Fowler of Columbia, former national party chairman; Mike McCurry, formerly of Abbeville, Clinton White House press secretary; and Marcia Hale, formerly of Aiken, Clinton White House intergovernmental affairs director.
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Dan Hoover covers politics and can be reached at 298-4883.
James Longstreet Conferderate General
