Would the "S.C. Presidential Primary brought to you by Preparation H" be too undignified? Or too editorial?

And what if Viagra wanted its logo printed on the ballot? That might get a rise out of voters.

In a move that takes corporate funding of politics out of the back rooms and puts it right up front for everyone to see, the cash-strapped S.C. Democratic Party has come up with a new plan: Get advertisers to pay for its first-in-the-South Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary.

State party Chairman Joe Erwin, a Greenville marketing executive by trade, sees corporate logos on ballots as a way to pay the bills for the primary. He plans to use corporate sponsorships to help raise $500,000.

So why advertise on a primary ballot or other election materials?

"Some statewide corporation may want their company identified with democracy," Erwin said.

About three months ago, Erwin said the party was starting from scratch on raising the money.

State Democrats plan to raise some of it from soft-money donations that won't have to be disclosed, but if a corporation wants to give a little extra to slap its name on a ballot, a media backdrop -- pretty much anything -- Erwin will consider it. It's a takeoff on the way ballparks sell ads on scoreboards or the backs of seats.

"You do what you have to do," he said, "as long as you do it legally and with integrity."

Erwin got the sponsorship bug after talking with Democrats in Iowa, where the party plans to sell space on a media backdrop. No one there has signed on yet, party spokesman Mark Daley said.

The South Carolina party has not snagged a sponsor, either, and is still talking with lawyers about options."Everything will be done in good taste," assured Democratic Party Executive Director Nu Wexler.

Erwin said the party has raised about $220,000 in gifts and pledges since he took office in May, but nearly half of that is needed just to cover payroll and keep the party's headquarters open.

The Republican Party was predictably euphoric.

"It's just about as absurd as they are," Luke Byars, executive director of the cash-flush state Republican Party. Republicans are enjoying a reversal of fortune: Two years ago Democratic coffers were full and the Republicans were the ones in debt.

Paul Sanford, counsel for the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, said selling space on election materials is probably legal, but "just because it's not illegal, it doesn't mean it's a good thing."

It would be worse if the primary were canceled, Erwin said.

Sponsorships and logos "somewhat changes the nature of politics, but boy, isn't it consistent with the way things are changing?" he said.

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