yes South Carolina uses touch-screen voting devices. Rep. James Clyburn thinks that the 12,000 voting machines were hacked, leading to Alvin Greene’s victory, which candidate Vic Rawl is protesting.
no The state’s election commission says that theory is bunk. Spokesman Chris Whitmire says that the machines are reliable and that “no candidate has made this claim before.” Likely story. source
Meet Alvin Greene Keith Olbermann is perhaps the perfect guy to question Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene, who folds no matter what question you ask him. Olbermann questions him as if he was talking to a child – a child who stumbled into an embarrassingly adult situation.
On that obscenity chargeOK, we all know how Alvin Greene inexplicably won a South Carolina primary. But we don’t know very much about the obscenity charge. Fortunately, the reported victim (and her mom!) told Shepard Smith exactly what happened. Hey, that’s not a picture of a football!
Good message, bad idea Remember Sophie B. Hawkins? The singer-songwriter who became famous for singing about wanting to be your lover? Well, now she has a song about the oil spill. And it’s awful. Oh boy. Yes, you should donate. No, you shouldn’t listen to this terrible, terrible song.
1%the percentage of your salary per year set aside for the filing fee in South Carolina
$10kthe cost of filing for the Senate in South Carolina – the amount Alvin Greene paid
$3,480the cost of filing for the House in South Carolina – less because it’s only two years source
» Is this the same everywhere? No. Most states charge a modest (less than $500) fee to get on the ballot. And three states (Arizona, New York and Michigan) don’t even have the fee at all. In fact, only one other state charges as much as South Carolina for their Senate filing fee – Florida, which charges 6 percent of the first year’s salary.
» A way out for Alvin: Pretty much because the Democrats think he’s in over his head, they’re willing to give him back his fee if he really wants to quit. And based on horribly uncomfortable interviews like this one, we can’t imagine why he wouldn’t want to quit.
You have to admit: there’s something vaguely joyous about a no-name guy who lives with his mom screwing up the best-laid plans of the pack of pragmatic losers that is the Democratic leadership of South Carolina.
Salon writer Gabriel Winant • Offering a spirited defense for Alvin “what am I doing here” Greene, whose win in the Democratic Senate primary is about to make the South Carolina elections a little more fun. While Democratic leaders want him to step down, Winant notes that it’s all their fault – not Greene’s. “(Vic) Rawl was a classic sacrificial lamb,” he writes, “selected because he’s plausible enough on paper not to embarrass the party or hurt the down-ticket candidates.” Let’s face it, the South Carolina Democrats are more annoyed that he ruined their plans than anything else. Jim DeMint is going to win. source
There were some real shenanigans going on in the South Carolina primary. I don’t know if he was a Republican plant; he was someone’s plant.
Rep. James Clyburn • On Alvin Greene’s surprise victory in the South Carolina Democratic Senate primary. Clyburn, probably the best-known South Carolina Democrat, seems convinced that someone gave Greene the money for the filing fee. “Somebody gave him that $10,000 and he who took it should be investigated, and he who gave it should be investigated,” Clyburn said. Dude, while you may be right, let’s face it. The reason Greene won is because the other guy was an absolute non-entity too. Even he had only a handful of funds compared to Jim “I’m going to coast to victory” DeMint. source
tuesday Some unemployed former army guy without a Web site, Alvin Greene, somehow wins the Democratic primary in the state’s Senate race. Probably because nobody knew who the other guy was, either.
wednesday Conveniently, it comes out that Greene allegedly showed a college student some dirty stuff on a computer, which is a felony. The Democratic party, freaked out by this, wants him to quit. He won’t. This’ll be fun, guys. source
