Posted on Wed, Sep. 13, 2006

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Sanford's Upstate visit raise questions about strength

JIM DAVENPORT

Associated Press

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Dozens of Bob Jones University students roasted hot dogs last week, listening intently as Gov. Mark Sanford laid out his reasons he should have a second term.

Sanford made a pitch for them to get involved politically - including in his campaign - in large and small ways. "Bumper stickers are back over here. ... Put a bumper sticker on your car. What it means is a couple of hundred bucks for name ID that we don't have to spend."

That visit and several others lately in the Republican-rich Upstate have observers thinking he's trying to shore up support where weakness could bring defeat as he faces Democratic Aiken County state Sen. Tommy Moore in the Nov. 7 election.

"There's a perception that he's up here because all is not well in Denmark," Upstate political consultant Chip Felkel said.

Greenville is "sort of the heartbeat of the Republican Party," Clemson University political scientist Dave Woodard said. "If they're not happy up here, they're not happy statewide."

Sanford isn't fretting his Upstate support, campaign manager Jason Miller said. "There are a number of events that happened to pop up in the Upstate in the last week or two" and fit nicely in the governor's schedule, Miller said.

Sanford "carried the Upstate with a large margin in his race in 2002 and we expect him to carry the Upstate again this year," Miller said.

But that was four years ago. After Sanford took office in 2003, his concerns about a land deal helped temporarily sideline an automotive research campus project pushed by BMW and Clemson in Greenville. Since then, concerns have festered about the pace of economic development.

And lately, some GOP stalwarts have formed "Republicans for Moore" groups in the Upstate, on the coast around Sanford's old U.S. House district and in Lexington County, a GOP stronghold.

"I'm finding a lot of folks that are really pretty disenchanted toward Sanford," said Tim Brett, a former Greenville GOP chairman and founder of the Upstate group.

Are the defections a problem? "Yes," Felkel said. "Is it lethal? I'm not sure."

Woodard, a GOP strategist, doesn't think so. Moore struggled to raise $1 million in August and is far behind Sanford, who reported having $4.5 million on hand on June 30. Sanford will ultimately flood television with ads and Moore won't be able to turn that tide, Woodard said.

Even if the Republican groups disenchanted with Sanford hadn't emerged, the governor would have pockets of support to fill. He hasn't been in the area much and "everybody has some sort of issue that they're kind of upset about," Woodard said. "I think he's got to do some political fence mending up here."

Sanford's campaign thinks any reluctant Republicans will come back to the GOP once they learn about Moore's "record of pushing for tax increases," Miller said.

Sanford doesn't appear to be getting much help from Upstate state House members whose seats also are up for election.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper, R-Piedmont, has regularly sparred with Sanford.

He said he doesn't know how much help Sanford expects, wants or seeks from Upstate legislators. Even if Sanford were to ask, "there are some people that wouldn't help since he actively campaigned against them in the primary," Cooper said.

Discontent reaches into the business community, Cooper said. "These are people that are in business and looking for certain things and have had projects that they feel like they've gotten no help with," he said.

At last week's hot dog roast, Sanford's differences with some Republicans didn't invade the picnic shelter and benches at the park a few blocks from Bob Jones University, a Christian fundamentalist school known for its Republican graduates and leanings.

Jesse Williams, a 22-year-old alum, said he liked what he heard from Sanford.

The governor has "had scuffles with the General Assembly, but he's really stood for what is right. He's not going to compromise and back down, not unnecessarily," Williams said.