South Carolina

SOUTH CAROLINA

8 Electoral Votes

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, South Carolina State Election Commission)

Total Population, July 2007 est.	4,407,709
Total Registration, Jan. 2008	2,246,242

South Carolina has: 46 counties.
Largest counties: Greenville, Richland, Charleston, Spartanburg, Lexington. >

Government
Governor: Mark Sanford (R) elected in 2002, re-elected in 2006.
State Legislature: South Carolina General Assembly House: 124 seats Senate: 46 seats
Local: Cities and Towns, Counties NACO Counties
U.S. House: 4R, 2D - 1. H.Brown (R) | 2. J.Wilson (R) | 3. J.G.Barrett (R) | 4. B.Inglis (R) | 5. J. Spratt (D) | 6. J.Clyburn (D).
U.S. Senate: Lindsey Graham (R) up for re-election in 2008, Jim DeMint (R) re-elected in 2004.

The Palmetto State

State of South Carolina
State Election Commission

Constitution Party of SC
SC Democratic Party
SC Green Party
SC Libertarian Party
SC Republican Party

The State (Columbia)
Post and Courier (C'ston)
News Media
Newspapers
TV

Politics1-SC
More Links

Presidential Primaries
Republicans: Saturday, January 19, 2008
Democrats: Saturday, January 26, 2008

Main South Carolina Primary Page

Democrats
54 Delegates (45 Pledged, 9 Unpledged) and 8 Alternates. >>
1.33% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.

Clinton | Edwards | Obama
former: Biden | Dodd | Richardson

Official Results 100% of precincts >

Joe Biden
693

0.1%

Hillary Clinton
140,990

26.5%

Chris Dodd
247

0.0%

John Edwards
93,801

17.6%

Mike Gravel
245

0.0%

Dennis J. Kucinich
551

0.1%

Barack Obama
294,898

55.4%

Bill Richardson
726

0.1%

Total
532,151

There was a huge increase in voters compared to the 2004 Democratic primary. Sen. Obama carried all counties except Horry (Clinton) and Oconee (Edwards).

Republicans
24 Delegates (penalized 23 delegates because process violates RNC rules)
1.01% of the 2,380 Delegates.

Allocation: At-large is winner-take-all per statewide vote. CD is winner-take-all per CD.

Official Results 100% of precincts >

Rudy Giuliani
9,557

2.15%

Mike Huckabee
132,943

29.84%

Duncan Hunter
1,051

0.24%

John McCain
147,686

33.15%

Ron Paul
16,154

3.63%

Mitt Romney
68,142

15.30%

Fred Thompson
69,651

15.63%

Others: Cort (88), Cox (83),
Fendig (23), Tancredo (121)
315

0.07%

Total
445,499

Sen. McCain won in the CDs 1, 2 and 6, while former Gov. Huckabee won in CDs 3, 4 and 5.

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Peroutka/Baldwin (Const.)	5,317	(0.32)
Brown/Hebert (Un.Cit.)	2,124	(0.13)
Nader/Camejo (Indep.Pty)	5,520	(0.34)
Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.)	1,488	(0.09)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	937,974	(57.98)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.)	3,608	(0.22)
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)	661,699	(40.90)
Total........1,617,730

Total Voting: 1,631,148

2004 Overview
Bush won with a plurality of 276,275 votes (17.08 percentage points). Bush won 31 counties to 15 for Kerry.

Past Results

1996

Dole (Rep.).............573,458	(49.79)
Clinton (Dem.)........506,283	(43.96)
Perot (Ref./Pat.).......64,386	(5.59)
Others (3)..................7,562	(0.66)
Total........1,151,689

1992

Bush (Rep.).............577,507
(48.02)

Clinton (Dem.)........497,514
(39.88)

Perot (Petition)......138,872
(11.55)

Others (3)..................6,634
(0.55)

Total........1,202,527

2000

Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)	565,561	(40.90)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)	1,682	(0.12)
Nader/LaDuke (Un.Cit.)	20,200	(1.46)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)	3,519	(0.25)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)	942	(0.07)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	785,937	(56.84)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)	4,876	(0.35)
Total........1,382,717

2000 Overview
South Carolina, the scene of such great activity during the Republican presidential primary in February, saw a very quite campaign on the presidential level in the fall. None of the principals visited. Bush carried the Palmetto State with a comfortable plurality of 220,307 votes (15.94 percentage points). Bush won 31 counties to 15 for Gore. Heath Thompson ran Republicans' Victory 2000 effort; Remle Beard was Gore-Lieberman state director. One issue on the ballot that did generate considerable debate was Amendment 1 to lift a ban on lotteries; it passed.

2004 Democratic Presidential Primary --Tuesday, February 3, 2004

2001 Code of Laws, Title 7, Chapter 11-Designation and Nomination of Candidates states "the state committee of the party shall set the date and the hours that the polls will be open for the presidential primary election and the filing requirements."

Democrats
In its Feb. 12, 2002 meeting, the executive council of the South Carolina Democratic Party decided to hold the primary on Feb. 3, 2004. The primary was run by the state party, which had to man about 1,600 polling places. Dick Harpootlian, then chair of the SCDP, estimated the cost to run the primary at between $400,000 and $500,000.

Overview CLARK DEAN EDWARDS KERRY KUCINICH LIEBERMAN SHARPTON
former: GEPHARDT MOSELEY BRAUN GRAHAM

Qualifying: File with the SCDP between December 19, 2003 (9:00 a.m.) and January 2, 2004 (5:00 p.m.). Filing fee of $2,500 is required, or "submit a petition containing the names of no fewer than 3,000 registered voters in South Carolina who consider themselves Democrats."

Participation: "Open to all voters who wish to participate as Democrats." Voters were to have signed the following statement: "I do solemnly swear or affirm that I am a registered voter of this precinct, I consider myself to be a Democrat, and I have not participated in the 2004 Presidential nominating process of any other political party." However, considerable controversy sprang up about this oath and SCDP Chairman Joe Erwin ultimately rescinded it less than two days before the vote. A voter must have been registered for 30 days prior to the primary.

ballot
"South Carolina is a primary/convention state."

The February 3 primary is the first determining step.

County conventions occur March 6-20.

Delegates (except the 9 automatic unpledged) are selected at the State Convention in Columbia on May 1.
1,955 of 2,092 precincts reporting (93.5%).

Total Vote

Percent

Carol Moseley Braun w
567

0.2%

Wesley Clark
19,999

7.2%

Howard Dean
13,029

4.7%

John Edwards
125,944

45.3%

Dick Gephardt w
786

0.3%

John Kerry
82,668

29.8%

Dennis Kucinich
1,277

0.5%

Joe Lieberman
6,712

2.4%

Al Sharpton
26,755

9.6%

Total
277,737

w= Candidate withdrew before primary but was on ballot. 55 Delegates (45 Pledged, 10 Unpledged)

SCDP: Delegate Selection Plan

Republicans
In May 2003 the South Carolina Republican Party State Executive Committee decided to endorse President Bush and not hold a primary (resolution).

Congressional district delegates elected by congressional district caucuses held Jan.-Feb. 2004.
At-large delegates elected by the state convention March 27, 2004. 46 Delegates (18 CD, 28 AL)