What's your view? Click here to add your comment to this story.

Hidden out there somewhere between the Rainey-Ravenel feud and an emerging campaign for governor that may be more of a contest than some would have thought, Charleston's Robert Barber is maneuvering to become the next lieutenant governor.

Barber's chances rest with getting noticed, having a message that piques voters' interest.

By contrast, Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, 37, has only to blend in with the pack of Republican incumbents and hope this isn't the year the GOP's hold on South Carolina takes a tumble.

How much better known is Bauer?

Advertisement

Well, he's mostly known by his first name, if that tells you anything.

Of course, not all of Bauer's name identification is good. For detractors, a word association game would trigger "speeding" and "land deal."

How the folksy Barber's everyday image and varied background -- Methodist preacher-lawyer-restaurateur -- plays against the much younger Bauer could impact the outcome.

Democratic candidate Barber, 57, speaks of "good judgment and maturity" and how those qualities inspire public confidence.

Playing the maturity card didn't work for Bauer's opponent four years ago, though.

Democratic Sen. Phil Leventis of Sumter took only 45.8 percent of the votes.

Bauer, 37, is a guy with Teflon-like qualities who has repeatedly bucked the odds to win House and Senate seats and, in 2002, an open lieutenant governor's office, usually by simply outworking the opposition.

In June, he ran second in a three-way primary behind Mike Campbell, son of the late Gov. Carroll Campbell, only to come back and win the runoff -- all this while hobbling on a leg painfully injured when he crashed his plane near Gaffney.

But Barber didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

After chairing the Charleston County school board, he won three state House terms, beginning in 1988. When he tried to move up to the U.S. House in 1994, he lost to a political newcomer, Mark Sanford.

As a legislator, he developed a reputation for preferring persuasion to confrontation.

That's part of his pitch.

Alluding to a less-than-warm relationship between Bauer and Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, whose wife, Jenny, endorsed Campbell during the runoff, Barber projected himself as a lieutenant governor who can help Sanford bridge the gap between the Governor's Office and the Legislature after four years of strained relations.

"We all ought to be able to work together, as long as he is seriously willing to address the problems we're facing."

He can do better than Leventis, Barber said, because "folks are tired and sick of what they see as partisanship standing in the way of progress and even relationships in the majority party standing in the way of progress."

Barber had the luxury of no primary opponent, so he was able to spend a year or more focusing on raising money and putting together an organization. He also has another plus going for him: no spate of negative publicity.

Bauer raised $1.02 million in surviving a three-way primary and runoff, but reported only $57,180 in the bank as of June 30. Barber has raised less, $656,382, but had more available cash, $501,581.

There are no independent, publicly released polls to provide a yardstick of their voter support.

Barber's campaign is built around a "Main Street values" theme, much of it derived from running the Bowen's Island Restaurant that's been in his family for more than 60 years. Daily interaction with the public has given him an understanding of everyday concerns about schools, health care, seniors' needs and the environment that he says cross party lines.

But Barber, like other lieutenant governor candidates before him, outlines a broad range of missions for an office with limited scope, personnel and budget. The job comes with a part-time salary, a purple robe, a gavel and not much else.

"It's one that will allow me to express important opinions. I don't look at it as a part-time job. Between the Office on Aging, being there in the event you had to assume the office of governor, and working on economic development, all those are very important. I don't look at it as a weak position," he says, a comment that echoes back to Bob Peeler and Nick Theodore -- and Bauer.

Geography isn't likely to play into the campaign, unless Lowcountry voters seriously split. Bauer is originally from Charleston, but recently moved back.

I always work on the assumption that no one wants to be lieutenant governor. What they really want is to be governor and are willing to patiently understudy awaiting an opportunity. Georgia's Zell Miller, for a 16-year example.

Bauer said several weeks ago that if he's re-elected, he won't run for governor. If Sanford wins re-election, that will trigger a mad scramble of GOP heavyweights.

If he's elected, Barber said he doesn't have any plans "right now" to run for governor in 2010, that he'd be happy to serve as lieutenant governor and work on aging issues for four years.

Notice he didn't say no.