| GOP ends candidate search AIKEN - After a search that lasted almost six weeks, the South Carolina Republican Party hand-picked a replacement candidate to run against veteran state Sen. Tommy Moore without formally reopening its filing window so other candidates could compete for the GOP nomination, a party official said Tuesday. McCormick County Council member Bernie Hamby, 50, a longtime Savannah River Site employee from Modoc, was unanimously approved by the party's 46-member executive committee during a conference call, state GOP Executive Director Luke Byars said. Mr. Hamby, a volunteer firefighter, is the only Republican candidate and will face Mr. Moore, a Clearwater Democrat who has held his state Senate seat for 23 years, in the November general election. Beating Mr. Moore is a long shot, Mr. Byars said. "He's starting behind the curve and is going up against someone with high name identification running in a district that has been carefully crafted to favor a Democrat," he said. Being a little-known, late arrival to the political party isn't the only problem facing Mr. Hamby, who did not return repeated phone calls. In Mr. Moore, he faces a well-heeled politician who used his political clout to rescue two threatened McCormick County institutions - John de la Howe School, the county's third-largest employer, and Hickory Knob State Park. Mr. Hamby's entrance also was marred by a premature announcement by Aiken County Republican Party Chairman David Nix, who said the McCormick County politician would be the party's candidate before the state executive committee had a chance to approve his bid. This echoed the party's problems with its previous candidate, Clearwater anti-abortion activist Susan Swanson, who danced in and out of the race before finally ending her bid April 9. Mr. Moore, a conservative Democrat who has the endorsement of one of South Carolina's largest anti-abortion organizations, bristled at Republican attempts to portray him as a liberal Democrat and tie him to his party's presumptive presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. John Kerry. He was particularly piqued at Mr. Byars' assertion that he is a member of South Carolina Democratic Party's executive committee, a position Mr. Moore said he resigned more than a year ago. The incumbent, whose district includes McCormick County and parts of Edgefield, Aiken and Saluda counties, also slammed Republicans for not formally reopening the filing window for candidates for two weeks after Mrs. Swanson withdrew from the race. Four South Carolina attorney general advisories say this would fulfill state election law requirements, but Mr. Byars said the selection of Mr. Hamby was legal. "Yes, but did they follow the spirit of the law?" Mr. Moore said. "The beauty of it is, I don't have to answer to any party bosses. I can think and vote as I see fit without answering to any political zealots in Columbia or Washington."
Reach Jim Nesbitt at (803) 648-1395 or jim.nesbitt@augustachronicle.com.
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