Here’s one theory:
Earlier this week, Pickle Monger pointed us to the very, very bizarre story of Alvin Greene winning the South Carolina Democratic primary despite being broke, unemployed, holding no campaign appearances or rallies, and having raised no money. No one knew who the guy was, basically, until after the election happened… which is certainly quite strange. Also, once the news came out and the press scrambled to figure out who the hell this guy was, it came out that he’s facing felony charges for obscenity. …
Of course, there are many different theories as to why Greene won — from the popular charge that he was a “plant,” to the idea that he was just first on the ballot. However… it does seem like some are starting to notice (you guessed it) the e-voting machines.
Altneratively,
One longtime Democratic strategist who has worked on and off in South Carolina for a career insisted that race is the simplest — and right — explanation.
“Black voters knew the guy was black by looking at his name,” the source said of Greene. The source added that black voters who always comprise a large chunk of the vote in a South Carolina Democratic primary made up an even larger segment this time around due to the massive interest generated by the Republican governor’s race. (South Carolina has an open primary system where individual voters can choose to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries.)
Describing the potential thought process of some black voters in Tuesday’s primary, the source said:
“They go in there to vote and they see two names on the ballot. They’ve never heard of either one, but they see ‘Alvin Greene’ first and ‘Victor Rawl’ second. They vote for the name they feel most comfortable with.”
South Carolina certainly has been … interesting … lately.
Have you read the breakthrough novel of the year? When you are done with that, try:
or Paperback
*Please note:
Links to books and other items on this page and elsewhere on Greg Ladens' blog may send you to Amazon, where I am a registered affiliate. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which helps to fund this site.
Leonard: I’d love to agree with you, but that’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. The guy seems to be legitimately mentally handicapped. Or something. He does not appear to have any idea of what’s going on. I don’t like my politicians to be an exclusive collection of lawyers and professional politicians either, but I do want them to be intelligent, discerning, and educated.
It is difficult enough to discern between incompetence and malice. Let’s not make it any worse.
Of course, he’s probably not a megalomaniac with major personality disorders found in many elected officials.