southern politiciannus democratica. Southern Democrat. Elected official with moderate views residing in one of the former states of the Confederacy. Tends to be socially conservative and pro-defense. Near extinction.

CHERAW — If there were endangered species entries for Southern Democrats, it would read like that. And next to the entry would be the calm visage of John Spratt.

He’d be pictured in a place like Cheraw, a Chesterfield County town at the elbow of U.S. 52 and S.C. 9, where residents happily cling to their motto: “Prettiest Town in Dixie.”

Spratt was there Thursday night under a plastic white tent, accepting the gratitude for his help in keeping their local bus system afloat financially.

Shiny black letters, just affixed to a nearby building, announced it as the John M. Spratt Jr. Transportation Center.

Looking up at it as the evening closed, Spratt grinned sheepishly.

“Gives you some tingles,” he said. “Feels good to help people.”

To be among the last of a dying breed is not a mantle anyone wants to claim, but the ranks of Southern Democrats, particularly white Southern Democrats, get thinner with each election.

Some, like recently retired U.S. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, have railed against that reality, blasting fellow Democrats for failing to keep faith with regional values.

Others, like U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, have simply changed colors, trading in their blue Democratic coat for a red Republican one that lets them blend in seamlessly.

And then there is Spratt, who once again seeks re-election this fall and once again faces determined, well-funded Republican opposition.

Plagued by lobbying scandals and led by a president whose popularity continues to lag, Republicans nationally are guarding against the possibility of losing control of Congress this fall. Picking up seats held by Democrats would balance out losses and increase the likelihood of maintaining control.

So Spratt’s race takes on more urgency than usual.

‘MY BAG IS THE BUDGET’

First elected 24 years ago, Spratt is a Yale-educated lawyer and former Oxford scholar. Balding and jowly, with an even, accented voice, he is a man devoid of flair.

At a Rotary Club luncheon in Columbia last week, the type of venue where a politician gets to show off his oratory skills, Spratt instead gave a tutorial on the budget deficit, complete with overhead projector slides and very, very large numbers.

“My bag,” he explained over reading glasses, “is the budget.”

It was the catchiest thing he said all afternoon.

At a Social Security symposium in Florence in 2004, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn — a close friend and staunch supporter — playfully warned the audience that his Democratic colleague could answer any question they had with a level of specificity that could be numbing.

Indeed, Spratt, using the mastery of policy detail he has acquired as the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, went on to dissect President Bush’s call for retirement accounts. He used terms like solvency and actuary — words typically seen in mail no one wants to read.

But in politics, mastery of detail is no cloak of invincibility. Spratt faces a threat that endangers all animals, political or otherwise: a hostile habitat.

A RED DISTRICT

Among the state’s six congressional districts, the 5th District is among the least homogenous.

Thanks to redistricting, it has changed some over the years, covering less of Sumter County but all of Darlington County and some of Florence County. The district now stretches from Cherokee County in north central South Carolina over to Dillon County in the eastern portion of the state and includes all or parts of 12 other counties.

There are Charlotte suburbanites, whose new shopping centers rise from recently turned red dirt, and Pee Dee farmers, whose lives still spring from the darker soil of their region. It is the home of the Catawba Indians and the disputed birthplace of Andrew Jackson, war hero, president and infamous Indian killer.

The district is 64 percent white and about 32 percent black.

Its population center, York County, is growing rapidly, with a portion of newcomers moving south of Charlotte to escape high taxes. Such voters tend to vote Republican.

George W. Bush comfortably carried the district against Vice President Al Gore in 2000 and swamped U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., four years later.

Every few years, Republicans send in money and a fresh candidate, hoping to claim congressional territory they believe should be theirs.

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said the race is on his “watchlist” of competitive contests.

“That district leans Republican in many ways, but balancing that is Spratt’s incumbency and his relatively moderate voting record,” Sabato said.

Added Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University who specializes in Southern politics: “It’s a district for John Spratt. It’s not a district for any other Democrat.”

GEARING UP

State Rep. Ralph Norman, a York County real estate developer, has the blessing of the White House to take on Spratt. President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, headlined a fundraiser for Norman on Friday in Columbia.

Norman had raised $420,429 through Dec. 31 — nearly all of it still in the bank. That’s a large figure for a challenger and one that indicates how eager national Republican officials are to pry the seat from Democratic hands.

“South Carolina’s 5th (District) is one of the best pickup opportunities for Republicans in the entire country,” said Jonathan Collegio, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“President Bush carried the district by 15 points (in 2004). Spratt’s voting record has been drifting leftward. He voted 90 percent of the time with (California U.S. Rep.) Nancy Pelosi, who is a very liberal member.”

Spratt and his allies downplay the link to Pelosi, who is in line to become speaker if her party wins control of the House. Pelosi has chosen Spratt as the House Democrats’ point man on budget issues, a link Republicans will look to exploit.

Spratt said Pelosi chose him to be part of the party’s leadership structure because he is a moderate and because he can speak for like-minded Democrats.

“I’m my own man,” he said.

On many key votes, particularly those involving social issues, Spratt and Pelosi parted ways:

• Spratt voted in favor of allowing the Boy Scouts to ban gays. Pelosi voted against that bill.

• Spratt voted to ban so-called partial birth abortion. Pelosi opposed a ban.

• Spratt, rebuffed in his attempt to have the United States give weapons inspectors more time, voted to give President Bush the authority to use force in Iraq. Pelosi voted against that measure.

“John has been serving South Carolina for a very long time — long before anyone in South Carolina ever heard of Nancy Pelosi,” said Clyburn, annoyed with the comparison. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

There have been other Democratic bogeymen, figures whose names or images on campaign mail were supposed to illicit gasps. Archetypal Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, the massive Massachusetts pol whose very image said liberal Democrat. Bespectacled Jim Wright of Texas with the big, car salesman smile, laid low by scandal.

And now there’s Nancy Pelosi, a liberal and — Republicans rarely fail to point out — a San Franciscan.

Spratt has worked with each of the three. He said his relationship with Pelosi helps his district and the state.

“What it means is, when we have a leadership decision to be made, I’m at the table,” he said.

Ratings from the American Civil Liberties Union, a liberal political action group that rates how often members of Congress vote in favor of its positions, do not show Spratt drifting left.

In the first three years it rated Spratt — 1984, 1986 and 1988 — the congressman received an average rating of 67.3. Spratt’s most recent ACLU ratings — covering 2000, 2002 and 2004 — average 45.3.

At the same time, Spratt’s ratings from the American Conservative Union, a political action group, have remained steady, though low. He had an average rating of 24.8 from 1983 to 1987 and a rating of 24.2 from 2000 to 2004.

Norman said Spratt has low ratings from other conservative groups as well.

“What I offer people is a pretty stark choice,” he said. “He’s got a liberal voting record. You’ve got me, a fiscal conservative right up and down the line.”

AIMING FOR NOVEMBER

Norman is being challenged in the Republican Party primary by Park Gillespie, a former public school teacher who is short on money but long on religious and conservative zeal.

Both are convinced the district should thank Spratt for his years of service and move on.

“John is off the reservation and has been for some time,” Gillespie said. “He is voting with California Eight (Pelosi’s district) far more than he votes with South Carolina Five.”

Carl Gullick, former chairman of the York County Commission, has heard the barbs being thrown at Spratt. Like Norman and Gillespie, he, too, thought Spratt was no longer a good fit for the district.

Gullick challenged Spratt in 2000 but lost decisively, getting 39 percent of the vote while 59 percent went to the congressman.

“What I learned is, it’s darned hard to beat an incumbent,” Gullick said.

Norman has top-tier, national Republican support. But Gullick said Norman not only has to beat back Gillespie in the Republican primary in June, but he also has to continue to stay close to Spratt as Election Day draws near. Otherwise, big Republican donors will be increasingly hesitant to write checks.

“When we get to September, if the polls aren’t real close, they cut off funding,” Gullick said. “It doesn’t matter what they promised you.”

Spratt outraised Gullick nearly 3-to-1.

SOLID SUPPORT

If his stop in Cheraw on Thursday was any indication, Spratt has a deep well of support there.

In May 2004, he had written a letter to the Federal Transit Administration asking it to forgive nearly $900,000 in debt the Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority racked up because of financial mismanagement.

The FTA, assuaged in part by new management at the authority, forgave the debt. None of the speakers who came before the podium mentioned the debt forgiveness, but Spratt alluded to it in his own remarks.

“I’d be the first to admit, and I think you would be, too, that the (authority) has had its problems,” he said. “But if you look at its history, it’s one of taking steps forward.”

Spratt did not speak long.

Posing for pictures and introducing himself to those handling the food, he lingered until most in the tent had left.

The parking lot was nearly empty when he climbed into his white Ford Taurus and drove off into the dark, country night.

Reach Washington at (803) 771-8385 or wwashington@thestate.com.