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Article published Aug 30, 2004
President looks like sure bet in state
CORY REISS
Washington Bureau
NEW YORK -- Mark Hammond
came to Manhattan knowing how his state of South Carolina would perform for
President Bush in November: Bush will win.The state is considered a gimme for
Bush, but that's not dampening enthusiasm among the state's 89 delegates and
alternates to the Republican National Convention, which begins today. While
Democrats from that state felt a bit neglected during the Democratic convention
in Boston a month ago, South Carolina Republicans know they have the best of
both worlds.They can deliver for their candidate, and they can have a say in who
that is because of an early primary that turned heads during the 2000 matchup
between Bush and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. With political minds already
turning to 2008 even before this race is over, South Carolina delegates expect
to be popular."We've had a lot of hotly contested primaries," said Hammond, a
first-time delegate from Spartanburg and the S.C. secretary of state elected in
2002.Plus, South Carolina has a tight Senate race that is more a focus of the
political elite than the presidential outcome there, which no one expects to be
a surprise.Both factors may explain why Sen. Lindsey Graham, a first-term South
Carolina Republican, will introduce McCain, a featured convention speaker. The
pairing backs up the 2000 primary loser's assertions that he has put aside the
bitter battle he waged with Bush in South Carolina, when Bush's campaign
impugned the decorated Vietnam veteran's patriotism.DominanceIn any case, South
Carolina Republicans are eager to lord their dominance over Democrats -- even
though Sen. John Edwards, the Democratic running mate from North Carolina, touts
his roots in a small South Carolina town."The Republicans say, 'Bring some of
these liberals into the state to make fun of them,' " said Blease Graham, who
teaches political science at the University of South Carolina. "We sort of taunt
the Democrats."The 4,788 delegates and alternates have flooded Manhattan,
trailed by three times that many journalists plus political junkies, corporate
sponsors and party officials. All told, some 50,000 people -- not counting
protesters -- are estimated to have come. For the next four days, party
activists will celebrate Bush's first term and push for a second.The action
inside Madison Square Garden -- and at lavish parties and receptions thrown by
corporate sponsors for lawmakers and delegates -- will vie for attention with
legions of protesters marching the streets and shaking placards denouncing the
war in Iraq and a raft of other issues.Manhattan, picked as the convention site
because of its status as Ground Zero for the war on terrorism, is awash in blue
uniforms. Hundreds of police officers guard the tightly controlled streets
around Madison Square Garden. Bomb sniffing dogs patrol the subways.Police lined
Manhattan streets Sunday as tens of thousands of protesters marched against the
war in Iraq. The largely peaceful crowd passed trendy clothing stores that were
open for business but not selling much. Sales staff watched the protest with
stony glares from behind storefront displays.Despite protesters carrying angry
signs deriding Bush, delegates toured the city and shopped for souvenirs. Some
posed for pictures with a midtown fixture, the "Naked Cowboy," who stood in the
middle of Times Square wearing nothing but boots, spurs, a cowboy hat and white
briefs. Even he was getting into the act. He sang: "Mammas don't let your babies
grow up to be naked cowboys" on a guitar plastered with Bush bumper stickers.The
GOP convention opens amid lingering charges and countercharges about attacks on
the Vietnam record of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee.
The feud is reminiscent of McCain's treatment by Bush surrogates in the 2000
South Carolina primary.Fear of a terrorist attack kept some convention veterans
and delegates' family members home. But the threat has stirred defiance in many
delegates who say they refuse to let terrorists disrupt the democratic
process."The protesters aren't going to do anything and terrorists can strike
anywhere," said Christina Jeffrey, a first-time delegate who brought her
14-year-old daughter.One issue with the potential to concern South Carolina
delegates and voters might be Bush's devotion to free trade, which has been
blamed for decimating the state's textile industry. Edwards made clamping down
on trade central to his appeal during the primary in South Carolina, which he
won, and similarly situated states.But South Carolina delegates say even that
isn't the wedge many make it out to be. And they say success in the Upstate is a
reason.With foreign-owned BMW and Michelin plants among some of the region's top
employers since the accelerated decline of textiles after the North American
Free Trade Agreement, and with a major port in Charleston, political observers
say the influx of foreign jobs has taken some sting out of the losses."Textile
jobs have been cut in half in 20 years," Graham said. "While it's a sizable
number, it's a wave that's absorbed by other kinds of things."A New York
Times/CBS poll of 1,200 convention delegates, including 22 South Carolina
delegates, shows less tolerance for free trade among the South Carolina
delegates than the national convention, but they are hardly a protectionist
group.While 53 percent of GOP delegates nationwide favor free trade even if
domestic industries are hurt, 45 percent from South Carolina hold that view.
While 32 percent nationwide believe trade restrictions are necessary to protect
domestic industries, 36 percent from South Carolina would clamp down.Michael
Dixon, a delegate at his fifth convention since 1988, said he hopes Bush
eventually "will see where we need to take a different course on these trade
issues." But the insurance broker and consultant from Spartanburg said he's more
concerned with national security issues, and Bush has a lock on
those.Republicans can't afford to be too conflicted about the issue given the
free-trade record of Rep. Jim DeMint, the Republican candidate for an open
Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Ernest "Fritz"
Hollings.Luke Byars, executive director for the S.C. Republican Party, said BMW,
which will sponsor a convention event for South Carolinians, is an example of
the upside of trade. He said DeMint and the convention delegation agree the big
problem is China, which they say doesn't play by trade rules and deserves more
aggressive action."The Democrats have to deal with this issue from a point of
weakness, and we deal with it from a point of strength," he said.Donna Turner
Williams, who has a signed portrait of George and Laura Bush in her office, and
another taken with the first lady during a campaign visit to South Carolina five
years ago, said the Upstate is a model of how the Republican philosophy and
policy interact."The Republican philosophy is personal responsibility," said
Williams, a first-time Spartanburg delegate and a commercial real estate agent.
"You can't sit around and rely on the government to do it. They went to Europe.
They brought the companies here."In the poll of delegates, South Carolina was
predictably more conservative than delegates nationwide, and more conservative
that most U.S. voters, on a wide range of issues such as abortion, the role of
government in promoting traditional values and legal recognition of gay couples.
The Palmetto State delegates opposed any legal recognition of gay couples by 77
percent compared to 49 percent of delegates nationwide.Democrats say Bush also
is more conservative than the Republican mainstream. They say the convention
lineup is loaded with moderates to hide Bush's true conservative nature, and
they plan to spend the week in New York pointing that out."Instead of a
convention, he's going to have a masquerade ball in New York, a Hollywood facade
put up by extremists pushing moderates out on stage to mask the special interest
agenda that's governed America," said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the
Democratic National Committee.But South Carolina Republicans are ready to show
their loyalty no matter what. They want to be counted on."South Carolina is a
strong Republican state," Byars said. "We've got a chance to pick up this
Democratic Senate seat this year. We are very unified behind the president."