Saturday, June 12, 2010
Vic Rawl's campaign relied on robocalls, emails to win
Posted by Chris Haire on Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 8:54 AM
I'm not a book guy.
In fact, I can't tell you the last time I finished a book.
Not that I don't buy books, none of them novels. I do. I just read bits and pieces. I really don't have time to do much more.
But Vic Rawl, the Charleston man who lost the Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nom to the Manning mystery man Alvin Greene, has plenty of time to read books, according to his campaign website.
Vic is 64 years old. He reads extensively, finishing over 150 books in the last year. He also enjoys travel, golf, hunting, and off-shore fishing.
Hmm. With all of that reading, you've got to wonder when he found the time to campaign over the past year. His time-management skills must be epic.
Speaking of Rawl's disastrous campaign, according to Tom Schaller at FiveThirtyEight.com, he was contacted by Walter Ludwig, Vic's campaign guy. Ludwig, who Schaller says is a close friend of his, offers up some enlightening information about Rawl's campaign ... or lack thereof.
According to FiveThirtyEight,
We, on the other hand, while we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on primary, we did do 220,000 robocalls (including one with Rep. John Spratt), and sent out about 250,000 emails in the five days before election. So, yes, we weren’t well known, but we had gone to 80 events around the state, and Rawl had some public profile previously, especially in Charleston County.
I don't know about you, but spamming voting — make no mistake, that's what robocalls and blanket emails are — do not a campaign make. You need campaign signs, mailers, TV ads, things that actually get your name out there to the people — especially those who don't know who the hell you were in the first place.
As for the Rawl campaign's claim that in some precincts Greene received more votes than the number of ballots counted, a claim Ludwig made to the Politico, one Lowcountry website is calling shenanigans.
According to the Charleston Reader, which I'll be the first to admit looks like someone's personal blog and not a more credible source, has this to say:
The claim of 25 precincts having over-votes for Greene appears to be completely without basis. It doesn’t take a “national academic expert” to check the facts. Any fool, including us, can go to the SC State Election Commission website to view the certified official vote counts in each race in each precinct in each county. Check the vote totals in the Democratic primary for US Senate in Spartanburg County against the total votes cast on a Democratic ballot in those same precincts. You’ll find that not only do no Greene vote totals exceed the total votes cast, but never do the combined Greene and Rawl totals exceed them either.
When is Rawl and the S.C. Democratic Party going to admit that Rawl ran a lackluster campaign, one that was virtually as nonexistent as the nonexistent campaign run by Greene, who it increasingly looks is a couple cards short of a full deck.
I had eggs for breakfast. They were tasty. My advice: Wipe the egg off yours and make an omelet.
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Comments (22)
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I'm still trying to figure out what the double negative in paragraph 3 is trying to say, Mr. Professional Writer. Like today's crossword puzzles, you seem bent on sacrificing substance for "cute."
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Reading 150 books is not a big deal, Chris. I do that myself. The fact that you don't read novels is the best insight into your psyche - no room for imagination. Like most drones today, you'd rather wait for the movie version so you won't have to do any of the creative work as you read.
I'm not sure what you do to be so busy. I work three jobs and have plenty of time to read. Of course, I don't waste time watching TV and "socializing" in bars at night.
Novels are overrated.
In fact, unless we're dealing with more literary works, the vast majority of novels that are read by bookworms are shite. A novel is not superior to a movie or a TV show simply because it's on the printed page.
A TV show like Lost or Battlestar Galactica or The Office or South Park are far superior to the works of Sue Grafton, Clive Cussler, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Dean Koontz, and all the rest who crank out a new book every single year.
Furthermore, I would even argue that most novels these days read like movies. They're simply movie storyboards without illustrations.
Make no mistake, I'm a rabid reader. I just prefer to read magazines, newspapers, and web publications. Real life is far more interesting than yet another story about a vampire detective who goes on a quest to rescue his estranged wife, the man she had an affair with, and their transgendered half-elf child from a sinister cabal composed of members of the Illuminati, the John Birch Society, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the Jane Austen Book Club, and Kay Scarpetta, and along the way learns to love himself and forgive his father for abandoning him with he was a wee bat.
Is the Democratic party so STUPID as to believe that while they "happily" took Mr. Greene's money, AND added him to the ballot, they didn't BOTHER to check his credentials, first?? What a crock of ****!!!! Also, I can't BEGIN to describe how elated I was to hear Mr. Clyburn's excuse "he's a ringer---has to be. We need a Federal investigation to determine who paid for him." This from one of only 4!!! representatives who tried to vote themselves a pay raise!!! this year! - If I didn't "know" better, I'd almost suspect that Clyburn himself paid the "entry fee"!!!
One thing for sure. The "Press" in South Carolina failed to investigate Alvin Greene before the election. So don't blame Alvin. He won.
The best option for voters in South Carolina is to go with the Green Party candidate, Tom Clements. He is definitely on the ball and would shake up Washington with a message we need. If you're angry at Republicans and Democrats and tired of the 2-party system and the situation in Washington, it's time to break things open with more parties. There are only 3 candidates on the ballot - Clements, DeMinted & Greene & Clements will be at the top.
Check out Clements' facebook page & I see his website is under construction: clementsforsenate.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Clements…
Go with the real Green candidate - Clements!
Chris Haire . . . its interesting that you are ignoring three other news articles released by this paper discussing Vic Rawls aggressive campaign. You neglected to mention that he held over 80 campaign events (I was at two of them) and the fact that he put over 22,000 miles on his vehicle.
He visited mostly every county in the state. Interestingly enough, one of the counties Vic won (Jasper), Vic Rawl didn't visit it. Nice try at lying, but dang . . . you need to try a little harder next time. Also, what is this idea that he spent the time reading books? This guy was always on the road.
Vic Rawl attended lots of events --- but he "preached to the choir". His campaign failed to reach out to new voters.
If his protest is deemed valid, maybe he'll do more grassroots outreach the second time around.
News Flash for Chris Haire - not all novels are pure fiction (or transgender vampire tripe).
You should read historical novels some time - like Michael Shaara's "Killer Angels", Patrick O'Brian's outstanding "Aubrey–Maturin series", and so forth.
Where the heck did Charleston City Paper find you - under a discarded TV remote in a dive bar's dumpster?
CharlestonNative. Close but not quite. I was actually found underneath the entire USC marching band following an ill-conceived recreation of Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk." Getting that trombone removed was a herculean task.
Thanks for the "Killer Angels" suggestion. It has frequently caught my eye. With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War coming up, I've been itching to learn more about it.
Then again, I'm always itching to get to the end of another bottle, so, well, there you have it.
"Novels are overrated."
"I'm a rabid reader. I just prefer to read magazines, newspapers, and web publications"
Shame on me for not being able to tell if this is meant to be tongue in cheek. If not, my god what a pathetic statement. I'm a rabid reader too. I just prefer the back of cereal boxes.
Not tongue in cheek at all.
Seriously, you're not saying that an essay by David Sedaris in the New Yorker or an article in GQ by Sebastian Junger or a commentary by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone are inferior simply because they appear in a periodical, right?
Someone should notify Mr. Dickens.
this election has forever altered my view of the intelligence of south carolina voters.
Unlike you, I truly am a rabid reader. I read novels, periodicals, backs of cereal boxes, hell, I'll stoop to reading your crap.
The fact that you drew the above conclusion from my post, coupled with your ridiculously irrelevant comparison of novels to t.v. shows like "Lost", and your inference that "bookworms" who read "shite" somehow have something to be ashamed of, all lead me to believe that you're not a very bright fellow.
Did you ever stop to think that, if no one allowed themselves to be entertained by inferior literary work, you wouldn't have a job?
"The fact that you drew the above conclusion from my post..."
What the hell other conclusion is there word?
Chris, I'm with you. I read very little fiction (well, I consider it very little, but I probably have read more fiction than the average American). I just don't have the time, not when non-fiction is so damn interesting.
Sounds good. You're the one who said
"Shame on me for not being able to tell if this is meant to be tongue in cheek. If not, my god what a pathetic statement. I'm a rabid reader too. I just prefer the back of cereal boxes."
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