Many economies have gotten an economic boost as candidates got serious about the “first in the South” South Carolina primary.
Money has freely flowed into South Carolina since the New Hampshire primary. Advertising has been one of the top benefiters but only into large markets and then, mostly television.
Many presidential campaigns spent dollars more locally in communities as they crisscrossed the state stumping for votes.
Saturday, candidates will decide if that was money well spent.
Polls will open Saturday, Jan. 21 from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. for voters to voice their choices.
According to the S.C. GOP website, since 1980 the winner of the South Carolina primary has moved on to be the Republican presidential nominee.
In the year 2000, South Carolina held the biggest presidential preference primary ever. Then-governor George W. Bush was propelled to the GOP nomination for President after winning South Carolina’s GOP Presidential Primary. That year, a whopping 573,101 South Carolina Republicans voted in the Presidential Primary.
No records are expected to be set this year as even absentee voting is lagging with just a couple of days left to vote.
Holding a primary on Saturday is not a new concept but it is one South Carolina is gambling with.
Will voters come out on the weekend to vote?
The decisions of a few may well determine what candidate prevails.
In years past, South Carolina has held Republican and Democratic primaries. This year, the only primary organized is the Republican Primary to be held Saturday, Jan. 21.
The Democratic Party only has one candidate on the presidential ticket, current President Barack Obama who is seeking re-election.
All the names of the qualified candidates will appear on the ballots, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum even as some continue to drop out of the race.
So far, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain have announced they will no longer seek the Republican nomination.
Being in a county like Barnwell, when elections arise locally, we have the benefit of “knowing” most of the candidates. If you don’t know the person running for office personally, usually you know someone who does. Residents are more often than not willing to talk about the candidate and what qualifications they have for the office they seek.
These are not local candidates, obviously. Television viewers have been bombarded in the past two weeks with campaign ads seeking to enlighten voters.
As with any information, residents, particularly those heading out to vote, should consider where their information on a candidate is coming from. The ads you see on television are paid for by campaigns but also PACs - Political Action Committees. Theses are special interst groups who may be small in number but have nearly unlimited resources to spend positively endorsing a candidate or negatively tearing apart another.
Candidates themselves are already tearing apart each other and their voting records.
In our election section on Page 10A, we seek to only introduce the person behind the campaign and a little background information to help readers and voters decide. It’s simple information - no hype.