The Scott Brown of South Carolina

Politics is bizarre in the US. The electorate shows a subtle joy in irony. They love to reach into a disastrous situation and pull failure failure out of a sure success.

The Republicans elected Scott Brown, an almost unknown to replace the Kennedy dynasty in Massachusetts. That has now been done one better. The Democrats in South Carolina have elected a completely unknown to be the Democratic contestant for South Carolina: Alvin Greene. A non-entity to hold one of the 50 most powerful political positions in the US. Astounding!

To what does Greene credit for his electoral win? Hard work...



Wow! He's a compelling, charismatic, energetic, knowledgable, talented, effective candidate. The people of South Carolina have spoken!

I'm waiting for Daffy Duck to win the 2012 US Presidential election. The sky's the limit!

OK... getting serious. This is obviously a "stunt". My best guess is that the Republicans -- specifically the supporters of Jim DeMint -- gave him the money to run to ensure that no viable Democratic candidate. I'm willing to stick my neck and state this despite this bit from a Mother Jones article:

The oddity of Greene’s candidacy has already prompted speculation from local media about whether he might be a Republican plant. But Greene denies that Republicans or anyone else had approached him about running. "No, no—no one approached me. This is my decision," he said.

Here's a bit more from the Mother Jones article:

An unemployed 32-year-old black Army veteran with no campaign funds, no signs, and no website shocked South Carolina on Tuesday night by winning the Democratic Senate primary to oppose Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). Alvin Greene, who currently lives in his family's home, defeated Vic Rawl, a former judge and state legislator who had a $186,000 campaign warchest and had already planned his next fundraising event. Despite the odds, Greene, who has been unemployed for the past nine months, said that he wasn't surprised by his victory. "I wasn’t surprised, but not really. I mean, just a little, but not much. I knew I was on top of my campaign, and just stayed on top of everything, I just—I wasn't surprised that much, just a little. I knew that I worked hard and did," Greene said in an interview.

Greene insists that he paid the $10,400 filing fee and all other campaign expenses from his own personal funds. "It was 100 percent out of my pocket. I’m self-managed. It’s hard work, and just getting my message to supporters. I funded my campaign 100 percent out of my pocket and self-managed," said Greene, who sounded anxious and unprepared to speak to the public. But despite his lack of election funds, Greene claims to have criss-crossed the state during his campaign—though he declined to specify any of the towns or places he visited or say how much money he spent while on the road.

Of course the Democratic party of South Carolina will be delighted with his candidacy... he has such unusual qualifications for the job...

Via the AP, Greene is facing a felony charge for allegedly showing obscene photos to a University of South Carolina student. The mother of Greene's accuser has launched a crusade against him, vowing to become the candidate's "worst nightmare."

Greene was also kicked out of the Army and the Air Force. And the increasingly bizarre circumstances surrounding his campaign have prompted some Democrats to accuse him of being a plant—and others to question his mental health.

Go read the whole Mother Jones article to get the "scoop" of Alvin Greene.

It appears to me that the Democrats have found their equivalent of the "Tea Party", i.e. a crazy element that is supposedly "aligned" with them but in fact are an element that will blow up and create a mess.

Here's a MSNBC article on Greene:

The No. 3 Democrat in the U.S. House called on federal authorities Thursday to investigate how an unemployed South Carolina military veteran won the state's Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

"Here is Alvin Greene, unemployed, he goes into the Democratic headquarters and pays $10,000. That's no little bit of money for an unemployed person," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said. "This guy, who is he? Where did he come from?"

Greene, 32, stunned the Democratic Party establishment Tuesday night when he handily defeated Vic Rawl, a four-term state lawmaker and former judge, for the party's nomination. Rawl, who had campaigned little but already raised $186,000, was forced to scrap a fundraiser planned for Thursday night.

Here's a clip from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann:



It is amazing what a "simple, old-fashioned campaign" can achieve in a state like South Carolina. I guess Greene is a "leading trend" in campaigning... stealth campaigning by word of mouth, not luck, that gives you 60% of the vote, a decisive win!