SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
Why do the southern Republican’s fear Vic Rawl (to the extent that they may take a chance of going to Federal prison for election tampering)? Reason: The stakes are that high. Judge Rawl should be on the endangered species list. He is one of the few white southern male Democrats left. He is well capable of removing Jim DeMint from the political stage? The election of Judge Rawl will put an end to the Republican Southern Strategy. We do know Judge Rawl was polling at 7 points behind with DeMint at only 50% prior to the primary. "The SCINDEX poll showed Vic at 43% and Demint at 50%, published on May 24th. DeMint was vulnerable with Rawl in the mix. There is no record of a poll taken with Greene. Additionally, without a strong viable candidate at the top of the ticket the rest of the statewide Democrats are more vulnerable.
Republicans will address many concerns that may be revealing of their nefarious strategies, like a criminal returning to the scene of the crime.
What has been learned from the GOP nefarious strategies from the elections of 1988, 2000, 2004, and 2006 etc?
The Republicans want you to ask why would this be the only campaign targeted in this way? A great fallback cover question and mislead. People will think "well it's just one contest". C'mon this is for the U.S. Senate and to remove the leader of the Republican Tea Party. It would be too obvious if this tactic was employed in multiple races. The U.S. Senate contest was listed below Governor and Superintendent of Education on the statewide Democratic ballot. The Federal offices by protocol and importance should have been listed above the State. Republicans control the election machinery in South Carolina from the county boards of elections to the poll managers.
Another point the Republican's will raise is that in 2000, Bush lost by less than 600 votes and the country was put through a grueling investigation and recount process. The margin was well above that here, why should South Carolina be put through that when the result was so decisive? I guess the Republicans learned something from the 2000 election tampering episode. We do know Judge Rawl was polling at 7 points behind with DeMint at only 50% prior to the primary. A small margin in the vote returns set to defeat Rawl was too risky.
I will restate this again for emphasis: Judge Rawl should be on the endangered species list. He is one of the few white southern male Democrats left. For that reason alone he is a serious threat to the Republicans and well capable of removing Jim DeMint from the political stage? DeMint is the current head of the Republican southern strategy "snake". Southerners know you have to cut off the snakes head to cause it to expire.
Judge Vic Rawl's election to the Senate would send a resounding message to the electorate: THE REPUBLICAN SOUTHERN STRATEGY IS DEAD. It would say Republican’s can no longer succeed by preying upon the racial fears in rural and poorly educated areas. The election of Judge Rawl would be as much or more a bridge across the racial divide as was the election of President Obama. The Republican southern strategist know this and that is why Rawl is such a threat. At his press conference when he first announced his candidacy Vic was photographed standing in between Representative David Mack III and Councilman Curtis Inabinet who are iconic figures in South Carolina. There was a very powerful message in that photo. The message was that this white southern male can overcome the racial divide. Conversely, the objective of the Republican southern strategy is to widen the racial divide. If that statement is not true – why are there no Republican African-American "statewide" candidates in the Republican southern strategy states?
Jim DeMint is the product of the Republican southern strategy, it is his cash cow, it is how he came to be.
Judge Rawl had been invited and did attend exclusive and other African-American events including NAACP meetings that Mr. Greene did not attend. Mr. Greene did not even attend the State Party Convention. I would like to see the photographs of Mr. Greene with prominent white Democrats at his side. Vic Rawl's presence in the U.S. Senate will demonstrate that the Republican Southern Strategy has run its course. A white southerner who as a Democrat is taking on the head of the predominately southern white male Republican party. The message there is that it is ok to be a Democrat if you are a white male in the South.
In addition, the election results from 8 June 2010 are phony. The returns for U.S. Senate flipped from an initial overwhelming absentee ballot favoring Judge Rawl early in the evening to a steady state 14-15% spread in favor of Mr. Greene. I was there I watched every pass of the ticker tape on Channel 4 in Charleston. No significant variation in the ongoing tally from 14-15% (+/- 0.5%) throughout the evening. The only explanation for that phenomena is an embedded algorithm maintaining the repetition of the same basic operation.
If the State Democratic Executive Committee claims that the election results were because the African-American members voted in overwhelming numbers for Mr. Greene because of his race then that Committee will be implicitely stating that African-Americans in South Carolina are racist. Do they really want to make that statement? I have many African-American friends and don’t believe it. That’s the mission statement the Republican southern strategist want us to believe in order to divide us. I can vouch with 100% certainty the iconic African-Americans standing at Judge Rawl’s side during the press conference to announce his protest of the results are not racist, they are friends of Vic Rawl. Those friendships would never have occurred had it not been for the inclusiveness of the Democratic Party. In the South, the Democrats are not afraid to run an African-American in a "statewide" primary; the Republican's are.
If the Democratic U. S. Senate primary is allowed to stand as is, it will reverse the gains Democrats have made in regards to race relations since Civil Rights. If the message from the South Carolina Democratic party's Executive Committee is: white southern males need not apply for the U.S. Senate race because we already have our limit with other statewide offices, it will set the party back to the era of Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrats. It will intimate reverse racism and divide the Democratic Party. It will be the crowning achievement to the legacy of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, allowing the Republican's odious southern strategy of fear and division to continue.
The Republican southern strategist will become emboldened by their nefarious success, election tampering will become even more creative, and already fragile race relations will deteriorate significantly.
On the other hand, if it is found that one of the few remaining white southern male Democrats is the legitimate candidate for U.S. Senate, supported by the Democratic party's African-American community, it will be the retirement of Jim DeMint along with his Republican southern strategy -
a shot heard around the world