Hodges wins South Carolina governor race
|
|
Jim Hodges
| |
(AllPolitics, November 3) -- Democrat Jim Hodges won election Tuesday to become the next governor of South Carolina. The race had one main battleground: a proposed state lottery.
State House minority leader Hodges was selling quality education that would be paid for with a state lottery. Gambling-related money poured into Hodges' campaign, and industry-sponsored billboards and broadcast ads blamed Republican Gov. David Beasley for South Carolina's last-in-the-nation schools.
That momentum inspired the Democratic party to dream of its first lease of the governor's mansion in 16 years. They ran TV spots with disgruntled Republicans who raised questions about the governor's honesty.
Beasley was the Republican incumbent in a Republican state. He presided over a booming economy, one of the best in the country. But he stumbled when he suggested the Confederate flag be removed from the state house. That move spawned "Keep the flag. Ban Beasley" bumper stickers.
|
|
David Beasley
| |
Beasley, a Democrat-turned Republican, won narrowly in 1994 with the help of the Christian Coalition. He promised those voters in this race he would fight a proposed state lottery.
Hodges ran a devastating so-called Bubba ad, with a Georgia lottery ticket vender thanking Beasley for not letting his state have a lottery, because that meant South Carolinians would spend their betting money in Georgia and help pay for computers in Georgia classrooms.
Beasley answered back with his own Bubba ad, telling voters they better hope to win the lottery if Hodges was elected because he was a tax-and-spend liberal.
Beasley was endorsed by the anti-abortion rights group South Carolina Citizens for Life. Abortion was not a big issue between Beasley and Hodges, but the group says it may have made a difference in the race.
Beasley, who has had critics in the GOP since he switched parties, also had to defend himself against rumors that he had a sexual relationship with a former top staffer.
Another strange issue surfaced Monday. Democrats complained to U.S. Attorney Rene Josey that Republicans videotaped absentee voters in Beaufort County and intimidated others in Richland County -- carrying signs that said "Warning. Vote buying is a federal crime" -- to keep minority voters from the polls.
Federal authorities then warned that videotaping voters at or near polling places violated the Voting Rights Act.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
OVERVIEW:
SENATE RACES:
HOUSE RACES:
GOVERNORS' RACES:
BALLOT RACES:
| 
