Democrats talk tough

Tony Baughman

Friday, June 23, 2006

Lee Ballenger, right, candidate for the 3rd Congressional District, speaks as state Rep. Bill Clyburn and Jerrold Sundt listen in Thursday night. Staff photos by Tony Baughman

On the night Lee Ballenger earned the right to challenge U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett for the 3rd Congressional District seat, three National Guardsmen, one of them from Aiken County, attended his victory party in Greenwood.

“All three of them had served a year in Iraq, and they are looking at the possibility of going back. None of them want to go,” Ballenger recalled. “We’ve got to help them. We’ve got to help them because if we don’t, no one else will.”

Ballenger, a Greenwood schoolteacher, was among a slate of candidates who spoke to a handful of party faithful Thursday night at the Aiken County Democratic Party’s Summer Social at the Aiken Electric Cooperative building. The informal affair was a chance for the party to rally and raise needed campaign funds in the aftermath of the largest Democratic Party primary vote in Aiken County since 1994.

“This year, I think the situation is such that the (Democrats) are rallying themselves,” said John Brecht, county Democratic Party chairman. “The leadership in this state, the leadership in this country, leaves a great deal to be desired. A lot of people are getting fed up, and we need change.”

The local party, Brecht said, was energized by the presence of state Sen. Tommy Moore on the ballot in the gubernatorial primary, which Moore handily won over two other contenders. The long-time legislator from Clearwater will face incumbent Gov. Mark Sanford in November’s general election, and according to Brecht, has created a stir among Aiken County’s Republican loyalists.

“The Republicans are the most un-Republican Republicans I’ve ever seen,” Brecht said. “They’re fiscally irresponsible, and I know that there are many Republicans that will be crossing over and voting for the Democrats this year. I was told that much primary election night, and Tommy Moore will get a lot of Republican votes.”

Moore did not attend Thursday’s rally; his press secretary Karen Gutmann spoke in his stead. However, Ballenger and 2nd Congressional District candidate, Michael Ray Ellisor, delivered a message of party solidarity and said their GOP opponents were vulnerable in the fall.

“People are suffering. I know them. If you’re a Democrat, you’re probably a Democrat because you know them,” Ballenger said. “This country was not built, was not made great, by the Republicans’ brand of selfish individualism. This country was founded on the doctrine of shared sacrifice. Read the Declaration of Independence. Read the Constitution, and you will find throughout verses which speak to a mutual shared sacrifice among us. That is what makes a nation.”

Ballenger keyed on the ongoing war in Iraq during his remarks and said that American troops have to be brought home.

Ellisor, who will challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson in November, pledged to investigate oil companies and pharmaceutical companies for gouging American consumers. He also said he would fight against cuts in health care and programs for the elderly, including Social Security.

Ellisor criticized Wilson, Barrett and their Republican colleague Henry Long from Charleston for “voting straight Republican every time.”

“Every one of them votes in unison on every issue,” he said. “They have one brain between the three of them.”

The Democratic tact in the fall, Ellisor said, will be a team concept aimed at the greater good of all South Carolinians.

“If Lee and I can go to Washington, I think we can turn things around,” he said. “The Democratic Party, which made this country great, has a duty to take this country back. It’s up to us. If we don’t, it won’t get done.”

County Council member Kathy Rawls, who is running unopposed in November, and state Rep. Bill Clyburn also spoke during the Summer Social. Both delivered messages of party unity and continuing the momentum gained during last week’s primary.

“We can make it happen. Trust me,” Clyburn said. “We stand a solid chance in this state to do what we have not done in a long time...We stand a solid of change of winning the governorship of this state.”