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Article published Jan 3, 2004
Democrats need cash, volunteers for primary

JENNIFER HOLLAND
and JIM DAVENPORT
Associated Press

COLUMBIA -- As filing closed Friday for South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, the state party continues to look for cash and volunteers to run the polls for the first-in-the-South contest."We're almost there. We're closing in on our goal," party Chairman Joe Erwin said Friday.Erwin was confident the party would raise the $500,000 estimated to pay for the Feb. 3 primary, but remained tightlipped about the exact amount in a state soft-money account for fear it will slow the flow of donations.Apart from the primary, Erwin also is trying to raise money for his party and doesn't "want to say exactly that we've tipped the goal." Excess money raised for the primary can be used by the party for other state campaigns later this year."The primary is really not a finish line," Erwin said. "We're trying to rebuild the grassroots."The party doesn't have to disclose how much soft money it has raised or how it is spending that cash. A new state campaign finance law will force disclosure of that type of money after the 2004 elections.The state Republican Party also cranked up fund raising efforts with an e-mail to GOP faithful Friday. The GOP wants to add $100,000 to its war chest before the Democrats' primary."We want to be prepared to respond to the Democratic attacks that are going to come our way over the next 30 days," said Luke Byars, the state GOP's executive director.The state Democratic Party has yet to recruit all of the 5,000 volunteers needed to run nearly 2,000 polling sites. The Iowa Democratic Party has offered to loan its staff and computer software to help tally the paper ballots in South Carolina.