South Carolina Democrats ready to aid Obama
Party thinks it has a chance to win
By Robert Morris, Saturday, August 09, 2008
Despite 28 years of Republican presidential wins in South Carolina, state Democrats are already eagerly participating in presumptive nominee Barack Obama's plans to compete in all 50 states this year, the state party's new executive director said Friday in Myrtle Beach.
The Illinois senator has made highly-publicized claims about sending paid staff members to lead campaign efforts in each state. While some had speculated that Obama offices in rigidly Republican states might merely be a ploy to raise money or to support efforts in swing states, S.C. Democratic Party executive director Jay Parmley made no mention of working for North Carolina or any other state in a morning address to the Beach Dems.
"We are far more energized and far more excited than Republicans," Parmley said. "There's not any reason South Carolina can't turn blue."
In South Carolina, President George W. Bush beat Al Gore and John Kerry by wide margins in 2000 and 2004 - about 16 points and 250,000 votes. In the 1990s, however, Bill Clinton lost his two elections by much closer margins - five points and 69,000 votes in 1996, and nine points and 98,000 votes in 1992.
Those figures, Parmley said, can be overcome by registering new voters and making sure they vote. In the black community, Parmley said various estimates show between 50,000 and 250,000 voting-age adults who are not registered.
"Now that's enough to win, and that's just one demographic," said Parmley, who became director of the state party two months ago. "Many of the people who are not registered to vote are our voters."
Democrats have been making similar claims since their record turnouts in January's presidential primaries, but Republicans turned out in much higher numbers in June state and local primaries, said state Republican Party spokesman Rob Godfrey.
Godfrey said state Republicans' Victory campaign is one of the best in the country, organizing thousands of local leaders across the state.
"We have thousands of activists on the coast who are fired up about John McCain, Lindsey Graham and the entire Republican ticket," Godfrey said. "Democrats' and Obama's interest in South Carolina has proved to be fleeting, and that's got to be a letdown to local Democrats."
The Obama campaign has not yet placed its own staff offices in the Palmetto State, but Parmley said he expects South Carolina to be in the next wave of Obama offices opened. Parmley pointed out the Kerry campaign in 2004, by contrast, only had offices in about 19 states it considered winnable.
"You have to have somebody on the ground to have a fighting chance to win," Parmley said.
In the meantime, S.C. Democrats have opened their own Campaign for Change office and have begun hiring their coordinators for six regions that will work with the Obama campaign. Horry and seven other counties in the Pee Dee region will be headed up by Lance Jones, the state party's regional field director.
Obama's 50-state strategy has the added benefit, Parmley said, of lifting Democrats' chances for other offices. A presidential race invariably attracts campaign activity from people outside the party's normal mainstream, he said, and their energy can add to Democratic vote totals in more local races.
"I suspect we will win races that we haven't won before," Jones said. "Some of the strongholds in the Myrtle Beach area will be challenged."
If South Carolina does land in Obama's column, Parmley noted, one of his official Electoral College votes will be cast by a Beach Dem. Sally Howard, a longtime Horry County Democrat, was chosen this week as one of the state's eight Democratic Party electors.
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