GREENVILLE — Thursday was a good day to be a Democrat in South Carolina.
After more than a decade watching the state become a Republican battleground, the state Democratic Party is viewing its successful push to move up its presidential primary and to host a nationally televised debate as a way to build a larger base of support — as well as energize it.
"It’s made a lot of Democrats, so to speak ‘come out of the closet,’ said Kaye Davis, a Greenville volunteer with the campaign of retired Gen. Wesley Clark, during a break in preparing an upstairs room at Barley’s Taproom for a debate watching party. "It’s easier when the media wants to speak to us and (NBC news anchor) Tom Brokaw is out there and the signs are out there."
"I’ve been approached by some Republicans who have been demoralized with the Bush administration and its policies," she said.
That sudden swell of Democratic Party pride is a welcome change for the long suffering party that has struggled to field viable candidates locally and watched statewide elected officials move across the aisle.
Anderson County has been hard hit with state Sens. Billy O’Dell, R-Ware Shoals and Bob Waldrep, R-Anderson, and state Reps. Ronny Townsend, R-Anderson, and Harry Stille, R-Abbeville, abandoning the Democratic Party.
David Vandiver, an executive committeeman with the Anderson County Democratic Party, credits state party chairman Joe Erwin, owner of Greenville’s Erwin Penland Advertising, for injecting excitement into the party through arranging the earlier primary and debate.
He thinks that will combine with a level of feeling against the Bush administration to "galvanize" local Democrats and independents.
For the last three weeks, Mr. Vandiver said he’s acted more like a ticket dealer, wheeling and dealing to get as many as 40 coveted slots among the 1,800 tickets available for the debate held Thursday at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts.
"Nothing like this has happened before," he said.
The importance of the debate in getting out the vote for Democrats was evident at the Allen Temple A.M.E. Church in the heart of the city’s black neighborhoods, which held a presidential candidate drop-in that featured Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.
The church gymnasium was a sprawl of tripods, video cameras, and dozens of notepad-scribbling journalists eager to find out how the candidates were playing to a minority audience that could make up as much as half of the state’s voters in Tuesday’s primary.
The Rev. James C. Clark, pastor of Wilson Calvary Baptist Church in Anderson, was one of hundreds who attended the afternoon event. He said he would take note of which candidates showed and would take back the facts to his congregation to make sure they had the information to make an informed decision.
"You can’t have your views addressed if you don’t have voice at the table," he said.
With the Bush administration’s policies stirring anger in the Democratic base, and a strong set of candidates forming new organizational networks, the primary could bode well for party-building in the Upstate overall.
Ms. Davis, 43-year-old general counsel with Access Point Inc., hasn’t been involved in a campaign since former President Jimmy Carter. She credits her renewed involvement to Gen. Clark’s credentials, but she said that once a nominee is chosen, she’ll stay involved. She’s determined to see President George. W. Bush knocked out of office.
Fellow Gen. Clark volunteer Diana Ward, co-owner of Appalachian Outfitters near Haywood Mall in Greenville, said she never had been politically involved until Gen. Clark’s impressive appearances as a TV pundit inspired her to become part of the campaign to draft him as a candidate. Since then she’s almost single-handedly developed a group of 60 supporters who have helped canvass door-to-door and make phone calls.
That new energy likely won’t disappear, said D. Foster, an Arkansas-based political consultant with the Gen. Clark campaign, who’s seen volunteers who can’t shake the bug once they catch it.
"It’s a growing party, here," he said. "People are starting to see what it has to offer."
Ms. Ward, however, said she was content to take one step at a time.
"It’s been a lot of fun," the 36-year-old said. " I think I will get involved again, but it will depend on the candidate — and my time."
Nicholas Charalambous can be reached at (864) 260-1256 or by e-mail at charalambousnc@IndependentMail.com.
