Free Republic

Party primary challenge tests Democrats' strength BY SCHUYLER KROPF Of The Post and Courier Staff Two weeks into his new job, S.C. Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin sees a mix of dark clouds and silver linings. The clouds include the anticipated cost of more than $2 million to conduct a February presidential primary, and the strong possibility that incumbent U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings may not run again. The silver lining is that Democrats can save money by using paper ballots in the party primary and then draft 4,000 unpaid volunteers to run it. In that case, the cost might drop...

Hollings' refusal of 9-11 widow's gun testimony triggers media attention Saturday, July 27, 2002 BY SCHUYLER KROPF Of The Post and Courier Staff The story of the South Carolina senator who said "no" to the widow of the 9-11 airline pilot is fast gaining national attention. Democrat U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings rejected a request by Ellen Saracini to testify at Thursday's Senate hearings in favor of letting airline pilots be armed in the cockpit. Her husband, Richard, was the captain of United Flight 175, the second plane to crash into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Hollings, D-S.C., opposes...

A Palmetto Journal analysis of contributions to federal candidates over the past 20 years by Republican gubernatorial candidates turned up some interesting facts. The two most notable ones involved Lieutenant Governor Bob Peeler and Attorney General Charlie Condon. When both were nominated for their current positions in 1994, an article in The State pointed out that the top 3 GOP nominees (including David Beasley) had all been Democrats less than 5 years before. In 1988, Al Gore ran for President as a moderate Democrat. In fact, at that point Gore's voting record indicated him to be staunchly pro-life (before his...