Bobby Blowback
POLL FUELS RUMORS OF DEAL WITH McMASTER
FITSNews – April 12, 2008 – After reportedly settling on House Speaker Bobby Harrell as its choice for the 2010 gubernatorial campaign several months ago, the powerful political consulting firm of Richard Quinn & Associates (RQA) will end up backing Attorney General Henry McMaster after all, sources tell FITSNews.
The decision is reportedly based on polling information that shows McMaster with a commanding lead over Harrell in the critical “Name ID” category, which measures whether or not voters have heard of a particular candidate. While not releasing specific figures, a source at RQA tells us McMaster’s “Name ID” among South Carolina voters is currently “ten times that of (Harrell’s),” and that the Attorney General’s favorability and job approval numbers are “Sanford-esque,” referring to popular second-term Gov. Mark Sanford.
Our source also tells us that a deal has been struck between Harrell and McMaster allowing the latter to run for governor, although the specifics of that arrangement were not divulged.
Several political insiders have challenged the veracity of our recent report saying that Harrell has decided against a 2010 gubernatorial bid, but our original sources are standing by their information.
“Bobby wants to keep raising money for his legislative agenda and being out there as a potential candidate for governor helps him do that,” one of our original sources said.
UPDATE – Sunday’s edition of La Socialista has some additional speculation on Harrell’s status as a gubernatorial candidate here.
Comments
By ron on April 13th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I’m no Bobby Harrell fan, but this explains to me why in my opinion many of the AG opinions have been very politicized.
By ron on April 13th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I’d like very much to see one or more additional candidates including perhaps one or more of the current or past congressmen from SC. Tommy Hartnett comes to mind, and he’s always wanted to be the gov.
By Whipple on April 13th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
McMaster is a cartoon politician…reading polls and making decisions on them.
But he has gotten a free ride from the press…but that is beginning to change. My sources tell me there is a big story ahead…and it ain’t good for McMaster.
By Rob W. on April 14th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Ron- McMaster was the chairman of the state GOP until he resigned to run for AG, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone who’s paid to be hyper-political carry those tendencies over to his next office. I am a bit surprised the Quinns were planning to ditch McMaster, since he was their man as GOP chair and ran with them for AG.
Also, I think Tommy Hartnett might still have stickers up for his ‘94 gubernatorial campaign- they were posted Ron Paul-style on road signs for years.
By Groundhog on April 15th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Mr. Whipple,
I hope this story you are alluding to will confirm my experience that McMaster is another political puppet of Donnie Myers. This makes a presidential vote for McCain difficult because it then works like this:
McCain-via-McMaster-via-Myers-via-SpeciesTBD.
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