A New District.... And New Leadership

Elijah Jones Wins a Barnburner of a Second Vote to Become the 7th District's First Chairman.  Georgetown's Jerry Rovner Wins the Vice Chair Easily on the First Vote..


    Normally, we post events like these right after they occur, so that we might be the first to get the returns to you.  Yesterday, it was almost impossible... Why? Because we were pretty involved in the races, and by the end of it all, our blood pressure was so high, we had to spend all day yesterday to recover.  Whatever we had, we're not quite recovered, and we paid for it - and we weren't the only ones.  Half of those involved were in wheelchairs, canes, wheezing, coughing or pale!  We truly were a group of the walking wounded.  Campaigning is hard work...


   We'll do our best to be the New York Times of the 7th District Convention.  That is, to be the blog of record on the day's events.. Yesterday was expected to be a tough race for the Chairman's job, and it was that and much more.. Things don't always go the way you think.  We got one prediction wrong, which turned the second vote in a way that NO ONE thought it would, and the two remaining camps scrambled for delegates that they didn't think they were going to have to.... But we'll get back to that in a bit.


   It was a fully day at West Florence High yesterday.. For us, it started at Bean Groovy, for Andre Bauer's pre-convention breakfast meeting. We might have been there a tad early, but there were about 20 people there.  To Bauer's credit, he was working constantly, as usual, throughout the entire day. During the convention, he spent hours calling voters outside the auditorium. Plus, he remembered us, which is always nice. Our only criticism was Bean Groovy's breakfast selection was less than what we consider breakfast, so we made a beeline at the Waffle House around the corner, and loaded up on Hash Browns, a Fiesta Omelet and a big cup of OJ.  After all, it was going to be a big day..


   As much fun as the actual convention can be, the real fun is mingling before the convention.  After all, until the votes are cast, you need to shake as many hands as possible - because it does pay off eventually..

I ran into Horry County Chair Johnnie Bellamy, and I told her I was sorry about her delegates having to make such tough arrangements getting here.. Hotel rooms, renting TWO 15 passenger vans or getting up real early - these guys went through a lot.

But each event can cause heartbreak as well... Tom Grimes consoles his fellow Horseman Earl Capps when Earl saw the OTHER ponytailed guy dressed pretty oddly at the convention!  No one likes a copycat..

Convention Chairman Alan Clemmons and House 68 Candidate and friend Heather Ammons Crawford pose for us before the fun begins...





   At long last, the gavel was struck by Florence County Chair, Bill Pickle.  It started a bit slow to get the formalities done, but that happens.  A note to a few members of the Pee Dee: The 7th District is the Pee Dee AND Grand Strand.. On a few occasions we heard it mentioned as the 'Pee Dee District'.  When you do that, you twist that knife of division a bit more each time you say it...

We did have a few statewide elected officials attend and speak at the convention, led by Governor Nikki Haley. We didn't really see any signs of the book signing mentioned ahead of time, but she gave a good opening speech.  Haley highlighted the major topics affecting South Carolina: unemployment, Boeing, Voter ID, immigration reform, replacing the Budget and Control Board, and of course, beating Barack Obama... 



SC Education Superintendent Mick Zais spoke next, and was nice and brief.  We'd never seen him before, and we were tipped that he has a tendency to be a bit, uhh, loquacious.  But, he limited it to discussing Charter Schools and the Teacher Protection Act.  Another observation: he's taller than he looks in pictures, not that it's important, but funny things hit you on the trail sometimes...


We apologize for the lack on pictures from inside the auditorium.  Not being a delegate, we sat in the very last row, which doesn't lead to good pics.  Also, when the Governor's security is there, getting too close isn't a good idea. In the light of the Secret Service scandal, we're sure these guys are doing their jobs t the max right now...


Another note: the delegate turnout was very good - 116 of the 125 delegates came or had alternates. However, we think the $15 cover for visitors backfired a bit.  Aside from the three Horsemen, we didn't see too many non-delegates there.  Only political junkies like us would pay to go here... Also, the lack of elected officials aside from Haley and Zais stunned us a bit.  The only other current office holders there were Clemmons, Phillip Lowe and Florence County Sheriff Kenney Boone.  There is still a disconnect between those holding office and the party itself, and that needs to be addressed in the future...


Now, onto the main purpose of the convention - electing officials.  Tom Grimes, Carol Padgett and Elijah Jones all gave good speeches. It's kind of a formality, because, as Jerry Rovner put it, most delegates made their minds up.  The Vice-Chair was a much harder to read race.  Brad Richardson did attend the convention, just a day after being hospitalized, thanks to the wheelchair and the effort of his girlfriend.  Brad is a real trooper, and it was great to see him feeling better.  Tommy Phillips gave a decent speech as well, although he got a slightly tepid applause compared to the others. It's clear that Tommy still has a couple fences to mend from the 2008 race.  Jerry Rovner had possibly the funniest moment of the day.

 A pretty tall guy, Rovner went to take the mic of the podium - and proceeded to rip the whole damn thing off the stand!  For those of you who might have heard 'Now THAT'S a strong candidate' from the back.... that was me!  Rovner's resume was strong, and our first thought was that if he had gone to more counties and given those qualifications, he'd win in a cakewalk.  It turns out, he didn't need to...


   During the lunch break ( I liked my double chocolate chip cookie and chips, but my sandwich was too small), the votes were tallied, and Rovner won handily, with 60 votes to 27 for Phillips and 24 for Richardson...  Horry County's Cleo Steele won the Secretary's position in absentia by acclimation...The Chairman race was a total shock to all three camps.  Yes, we got one thing wrong yesterday - the Horry delegation did not vote fully as a block, and it changed the path of the second vote completely.  Our expectation was that Horry and Georgetown would vote en masse for Padgett, and whichever between Grimes and Jones finish third would drop out.  Instead, 15 votes from Horry went for Jones, which allowed Jones to finish first with 49, Grimes second with 34, and Padgett a stunning third with 31.. My guess is Elijah was rewarded by Alan Clemmons and some others for his work during the districting process. In one way, it was better he did, because if Padgett got those votes, both Jones and Grimes would have 34... and who would back out then. Oh crap, now what?

Suddenly, the whole second vote was a free for all... Horry County was now what it wasn't in the first vote - the Kingmaker.  Or so it seemed... Tom went to Johnnie Bellamy, and she delivered close to all the non-Jones votes to Grimes.  25 of the 29 delegates went to Tommy, making the new Horry total 25-19 Grimes, and it seemed like a second round comeback was complete.  But, in hindsight, we made a major tactical error.



     What we did was go all-out at Horry County, and turn that 15 vote deficit into a 6 vote win.  But what we should have done was send two guys out - one to Horry, and one to Georgetown.  We didn't, and Georgetown went for Elijah Jones 12-0.. Adjusting for a few delegates who left after the first vote, Elijah pulled out a 58-54 second vote squeaker - and we now had a new Chairman..


   From that point, we'll be honest: we stopped paying much attention... SCGOP Chairman Chad Connelly arrived and spoke briefly, then they allowed the Congressional candidates in attendance - Bauer, Jay Jordan, Randal Wallace, Tom Rice, Chad Prosser and Katherine Jenerette - to speak.  Renee Culler, Dick Withington and Jim Mader did not attend... Then to close, Elijah Jones gave his acceptance speech, and the convention was over.


    It was a long day, and the physical toll it took on me got me worried.  Obviously, I not fully back to health.  I never looked to redfaced and exhausted in my life, so I went home, and skipped Jay Jordan's BBQ... The good thing was that with the new District, it instilled a feeling of reconciliation amongst a lot of us.  The winners were humble and the losers didn't cry.  I think we stunned a lot of people by nearly pulling this thing off.  Taking this race to a four vote second round loss - without winning a single vote in your home county - showed we have a lot of friends.  We made some new ones, and patched some old ones as well.  Heck, I even got a couple new Facebook requests!  How long it lasts remains to be seen, but that is the real value of the conventions: not to select leaders, but to reacquaint with party members, and make new ones.  Heck, we might even have a new Horsemen or two joining the club.. You've been warned!   Congrats to Elijah, Jerry , Cleo, and to National Delegates Jim Jerow and Alan Clemmons...


.