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_____ Top stories _____ • Dream matchup in name only could happen

Campbell vs. Hollings.

Now there's a matchup that many South Carolina Republicans and Democrats once salivated over.

If the political stars align just right, it could yet happen.

But it won't be former Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell and now retired Democratic U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings going at each other in a high-stakes battle of political heavyweights for a top-of-the-ballot office.

It could involve their politically untested sons, Mike Campbell, 36, and Michael Hollings, 54. A case of big surnames and little resumes, politically speaking.

Before it happens, each would have to win his party's primary for the nomination for lieutenant governor next June. High hillCampbell may have the higher hill to climb.

He's got to wrest the nomination from a sitting lieutenant governor, in this case, a tenacious campaigner in 36-year-old Andre Bauer.

For now, Hollings is the only Democrat out there.

The senior Hollings, now 83, retired from the Senate in January.

The elder Campbell, 64, has largely dropped from public view as he battles early-onset Alzheimer's disease in retirement in Georgetown. Whether he will appear on his son's behalf, either in person or in broadcast ads, isn't clear. He left the Governor's Office in 1995.

Political analysts are divided on how -- or whether -- a famous name affects a candidate's chances.

Hollis "Chip" Felkel, president of Greenville's Felkel Group, said, "It gives you a second look and based on dad's name, it gets a few people to sit down with you."

Does it have statewide resonance? "I just don't know," Felkel said.

But Felkel, a Republican activist, said famous last names also raise the level of expectations, an always problematical situation in politics "because you don't have an opportunity to fall flat." Little marginIn a contest where experience requirements are low, "I can only imagine that the name recognition and family ties will help Hollings and Campbell," says Scott Huffmon, a Winthrop University political science professor.

Huffmon noted that incumbent Bauer, as a young candidate, "highlighted a teenage lawn mowing business and being a youth volunteer for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign as reasons he should be elected to the post, not exactly a lifetime of knowledge concerning the complex inner workings of state government."

Hollings, of Columbia, is a lawyer-lobbyist.

Campbell is president and CEO of two firms, Palmetto International and The Crescent Group. The former is involved in reconstruction projects in Iraq and the latter in business development and consulting. Also, he is vice chairman of the state Board of Natural Resources.

One of the things having a politically famous father offers is the potential for drawing on the old organization, that is, bringing in seasoned hands and experienced fund-raisers. It's not a given, because pragmatic activists tend to shy away from candidates who don't appear viable. Loyalty usually doesn't extend to inviting embarrassment in politics.

If young Campbell is counting on rallying his father's old political network, he might need to think again, Felkel said. Organization gone?

"The Campbell grass-roots network that actually does all the sweat, that organization doesn't exist anymore. And I was part of it. (Mike Campbell) has to create his own," Felkel said.

Campbell, on a family vacation last week, wasn't available for comment, but his campaign manager said bringing his father's former business allies into the campaign's finance operation has been highly successful.

But Wesley Donahue said there has been less success at the worker-bee level where "a lot of the grass-roots structure has fallen apart, but we're in the process of putting it back together."

Political organizations of U.S. senators are even more ephemeral, coming together one year in every six, often with a changing cast and one that heads elsewhere when the incumbent is gone.

How Hollings thinks family names will factor into the campaign is something he's keeping to himself.

Last week, he declined to comment on his candidacy until his formal declaration, now scheduled for September. Issues, not namesHollings was more talkative on June 14, when he told The Associated Press, "I'm not so worried about big names. It will come down to the issues."

He also referred to the part-time office as "an apprenticeship for higher office," a hint that he might see himself following in his father's footsteps. There will be a governor's race in 2010, and his dad's old Senate seat, now held by Republican Jim DeMint, will be on the block.

Donahue said names will be a factor.

"You can tell a lot about a person by his family, how he was brought up, the ideals he'll have. You can tell a lot about Mike and Michael by their fathers."

Campbell's Web site includes an 18-paragraph biography. Eight of the paragraphs, including numbers 2, 3 and 4, specifically or indirectly mention his father.

Hollings isn't on the Web.