Local News Roundup, April 8, 2014

I thought I would just toss out a few headlines for you today:

The City Council is probably going to approve the current plan to spend $29 Million on the baseball stadium tonight. 

In what is probably the most compelling argument to vote for someone other than Lindsey Graham, former cocaine user Thomas Ravenel said he intends to run as an independent if Lindsey Graham wins the GOP Primary.

Bobby Jindal will be the headliner at the GOP Silver Elephant Dinner here in June. No doubt it will be his audition for 2016.

And in unrelated news, some people are upset about the fact that airlines won't have limes for drinks anymore. Get over it, people. You're on an airplane. Flying. Forget about the limes. You're flying.

My First Look at Det Bowers for US Senate

My firm hosted a short meeting with Det Bowers, who has tossed his hat into the ring in the GOP race to unseat Senator Graham.

[Full disclosure: I know the Bowers family personally. I'm about the same age as his two older sons, and I have known him and his family growing up. He was also one of the ministers at my church for awhile.]

[Second full disclosure: I was only able to stay for the first thirty minutes, as I had a court hearing to attend. Accordingly, I missed about half of the discussion.]

Having said that, coming into today's meeting I didn't know anything about Det's political opinions, so I was interested to see what his motivation for running would be, and what his intentions were. My biggest concern was that he was running "to make a statement" rather than to actually win. I have no problem supporting people whom I agree with if they truly want to win, but I have no interest in supporting a candidate who's goal is anything other than actually winning. Because of his late entry into the race, I was worried that he might not be fully committed.

Accordingly, I was pleased to hear Det say that he isn't in the race to just show up. He told us that he decided to enter the race about a month ago. He said that one of the catalysts to his entering the race was when he and his wife recently watched the HBO series John Adams. Det told us that his wife encouraged him to run for this office because it was his duty to his country to try and make it a better place. Det said that his initial response was "I can give you about eight million reasons why I shouldn't run" but his wife dismissed that objection.

Det said that ultimately, he wants to run not against Senator Graham so much as he wants to run for the things that he personally believes in. He emphasized that he felt it was his duty to run for office.

Getting to those specifics, he led off with the idea that he wants to be a Senator that doesn't live in Washington DC. He said that his life is in South Carolina, and he wouldn't be a Senator who goes up to DC and becomes detached from this State. Without directly saying so, it was clear that he believes Senator Graham has made Washington, DC his home.

This dovetailed into his position that politicians shouldn't be in office for long periods of time, and he endorsed the idea of term-limits. He spoke about Washington's overspending, and the how Congress has continually delegated more and more authority and responsibility to the other two branches of government. He was extremely familiar with the Constitution, referencing it specifically in several instances. It was clear that he would seek to reassert Congress' power at the expense of Executive agencies.

He indicated that he would not have voted to confirm either Justice Sotomayor or Justice Kagan due to their views on abortion and homosexuality, but he acknowledged that they would have been confirmed anyway. However, he made a point to de-emphasize social issues, or at least it seemed that way to me.

It appears that his primary motivation for seeking a seat in the US Senate rests more on economic freedom and lessening the federal government's role in trying to direct private action. He told us about a business owner in Charleston who said he pays more  money complying with government regulations than he pays in taxes as an example of the federal government's heavy hand with economic activity.

On the practical side, his son Wyman is dealing with the logistics of the campaign. Wyman briefly indicated that they are looking to raise $500k by March, and he said that "it was a very attainable goal". They hope to have an official campaign website up and running soon as well. In the meantime, if you want to keep up with him, he is on Twitter. Wyman indicated that it was their goal to reach out to people both in and outside of South Carolina, as a US Senator's vote affects more than just one state.

Overall, Det Bowers struck me as a very humble and authentic man who is running for office because he truly wants to try and make this country a better place for his children and grandchildren. I'll be interested to see how his campaign plays out over the next few months.

I haven't decided where I am on this GOP primary, but I'll certainly be watching all the candidates closely.

Monday Open Thread

This is probably what you were doing if you were looking for some content today:

So...you'll have to talk amongst yourselves for today anyway.

Tomorrow, I promise actual content. I'll be co-hosting a meet and greet a for Det Bowers, who has tossed his hat in the ring for the GOP primary against Lindsey Graham. I'll have some notes on how that goes. I don't know much about Det, other than he has been a pastor at my church. I know he's a good guy, but I also know that Graham has a lot of money.

If nothing else, tomorrow will be educational.

Sen. Lindsey Graham is in Trouble

I shared this on Twitter earlier, but I thought I should post it here for those of you who aren't Twitter-inclined. If you haven't been paying attention, Lindsey Graham is in big trouble for his reelection this fall. How much trouble?

Try 31% on for size.

Clemson political science professor Dave Woodard conducted the poll last week and found only 31 percent of South Carolina's Republicans plan to vote to re-elect Graham, regardless of who else was in the race.

For those of you not familiar with math, that's bad. Further down, the article cites Richard Quinn who is critical of the methodology that Woodard uses. That may or may not be a fair criticism. As Quinn notes, he doesn't know what methodology was used.

For comparison's sake, a Landmark/Rosetta Stone poll has Senator Graham up by a comfortable margin in the primary. However you slice it, I don't think Senator Graham is going to coast to reelection in a state known for long-term senators.

Happy Labor Day: News Roundup and Links

As you may have noticed, I've been on vacation the last few days. Here are some headlines from around the weekend:

Lindsey Graham to meet with Obama on Syria. Graham actually wants more of a heavy-handed intervention in Syria, so this should be an interesting meeting. My prediction is the Congressional resolution in the Congress is going to make for some strange bedfellows among the anti-war liberals and the Rand Paul libertarians. This vote is going to be close. Personally, I would vote "no". I still don't know what our compelling interest is.

The UGA Offensive Line Gets Ready for the Gamecocks and Clowney. They better do something different that what they did in Clemson. Georgia didn't look like world-beaters last week. And after all the criticism of being "winded" and "out of shape" you better believe that #7 will be motivated in Athens.

The EU wants to put "speed limiters" on all cars, holding them to 70MPH. Obviously, because Europe's biggest problem right now is cars going too fast. 

Here's some good bowties if you like dressing up for tailgates. And here's a Yeti cooler that's perfect for those of you who struggle to keep your keg of beer cold at your tailgate. Maybe drink the beer more quickly, y'all?

That's all I've got. Enjoy the last day of wearing white shoes, ladies. Tick, tock...