COLUMBIA -- A thousand boisterous South Carolina Democrats put a target on Republican Gov. Mark Sanford's back and celebrated Saturday what many of them predicted would be a strong move on the comeback trail in November.

"They're upbeat because of the way Republicans have mismanaged things," Waring Howe Jr., a delegate from Charleston, said at the party's 2006 state convention.

"We can get it all," exulted James Thompson, a 30-year-old delegate from Lancaster who works for the local school district.

Greenville delegate Carlyle Steele shouted a back-handed compliment to the GOP, offering thanks for having "made our job easier," then urged delegates and guests to dig deep as the hat, in the form of large white buckets, was passed for donations to the cash-short party.

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National Democratic consultant Donna Brazile, the keynote speaker, thundered, "We've shaken off the blues, now we're ready."

The quiet -- until now -- Democratic primary for governor took on a new dimension with the Friday night Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and Saturday's convention, as the two major candidates went all out to attract attention to themselves and their platforms.

Florence Mayor Frank Willis, a road-building contractor in private life, played that background against his campaign theme, "Willis Works." The stream of arriving delegates was parted by a white and orange highway barricade adorned with Willis signs. His campaign volunteers, decked out in orange safety vests and white hard hats, handed out brochures.

Patrick Moss, just retired from his federal job in Washington and back home in McCormick County, said the seriousness of the primary campaign was brought home to him by his first large-scale encounter with Willis supporters.

Moss, 63, wearing a Moore polo shirt, noted, "I saw all those signs last night and thought 'we aren't the only ones running.'"

State Sen. Tommy Moore's campaign was a shade more understated, but clearly was engaged in a battle of the signs with the Willis forces.

That was apparent when Moore was introduced. His supporters stood, shouted, cheered and waved his green and blue signs.

Willis' introduction brought a similar -- but obviously smaller -- outpouring from his backers, heavily clustered in the Greenville delegation.

The third candidate, little-known Columbia lawyer C. Dennis Aughtry, an 11th hour filer a month ago, offered a one-plank platform -- the benefits of legalized gambling -- that drew both scattered applause and boos.

"If you open our state to casino gambling, there would be an influx of revenue like you've never seen," he said during his allotted speaking time, following with a prediction of a bright economic future with gambling paying for ending property taxes, raising teachers' pay to the national average and more accessible health care.

Moore and Willis, who followed Aughtry to the speaker's platform in alphabetical order, offered enthusiasm, but few specifics on exactly what they would do if elected. The crowd didn't seem to mind.

Where Willis has played the outsider's role, Moore provided an early reminder that he's spent 27 years in the Legislature, bringing to it the values of "hard work, faith and family" and education, learned in a hardscrabble youth in an Aiken County mill village.

"As your next governor, you can believe me when I say the assault on public education is over," Moore said.

He expressed rage at Sanford's proposed privatization of Santee Cooper and embarrassment at what he said was the state Commerce Department's "lack of commitment" to economic development as evidenced by nagging high unemployment and low job creation numbers.

Willis said he doesn't intend to be a cheerleader because "if I'm nominated, I'm going to be the toughest, harshest taskmaster you've ever seen because this election is...about...nothing less than saving South Carolina from the grips of the thoughtless and rescuing our nation from the clutches of the mindless."

Rejecting suggestions that Democrats are the party of the distant past or distant future, Willis said, "We're the party of right now. Help is on the way."