Moderate candidate could aid Democrats

Former state senator and comptroller general Jim Lander is a lonesome Democrat in the Coffee Club - an informal group of retired men who gather every morning at the Newberry McDonald's to talk about anything.

Attendance varies. Some days four or five will show up. And at other times, as many as a dozen will put in an appearance.

The group, sometimes called the "McDonald's mafia," includes retired businessmen, farmers, postal workers, insurance executives and military persons.

On Sept. 6, it was a full house. Politics was the chief topic.

And as usual, Lander was the target of some good-natured jabs from his Republican pals, who comprise a majority of the club members. There are about three Democrats in the group.

"If we can get enough money, I think we can win the governor's race with [state Sen.] Tommy Moore as our candidate," Lander opined.

He didn't get much fuss from the Republicans on that point. Even some of the GOP members acknowledged they could vote for Moore, a conservative Democrat, over Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, with whom they have become disenchanted.

"We gave him a chance. We found out what he was, and now we're against him," said Charles Fulmer, a retired farmer.

In an aside to a visitor, Lander offered this advice for his own party: "The South Carolina Democratic Party has got to move to the center of this state. There's a vacuum there. The right person can do it," he said, noting that President Clinton played a major role in pushing the national Democratic Party back to the middle.

Conservative Democrats have been disappearing for some time in the party's once-solid South. It has been most noticeable in South Carolina. Many maverick-more-than-not lawmakers have either joined the Republican Party or retired.

Merle Black, an Emory University political scientist, says more than 80 percent of white conservatives in the South now consider themselves Republicans, while only 10 percent are Democrats.

For S.C. Democrats to regain the prominence they once enjoyed, Lander said, the party must stop choosing liberal national leaders.

Moore has an excellent opportunity to prove skeptics wrong if he can win the Democratic primary, where he is opposed by Florence Mayor Frank Willis.

"Moore is one Democrat who can attract Republican voters disenchanted with Sanford," says Furman University political scientist Don Aiesi. "He just has to get past the primary."

But others don't give him much of a chance. "The sheer numbers are against him," said Ronny Bolton, a commercial real estate broker and GOP activist from Aiken.

The overwhelming number of Republican votes in the state and Sanford's $3.5 million campaign war chest present a major barrier for any Democrat.

Republicans have reduced the comfort level for conservative Democrats by redrawing state legislative districts that once were considered toss-ups but now lean toward the GOP.

Bottom line: South Carolina is not likely to elect a Democrat as governor.