He’s a professor of European politics at a small liberal arts school that most folks in SC link with the split with the Southern Baptists over the school’s liberalism, and he has no elective experience.

The race will be between Barrett and McMaster. McMaster will draw the Midlands crowd. Barrett will attract the Upcountry voters, and the race will be for the Low country. Davis could be a spoiler, but that is the race.

Meanwhile, the Dem’s are waiting which office Joe Erwin will run for, the US Senate or Governor, as no other Dem can match his fund raising ability.

Sigh… I wish David Wilkins was running.

By the way, has anyone heard that Blease Graham is thinking of running for governor, according to some USC poli-sci students? Oh, and I also heard that Dabo Sweeney might be making a run for the Senate from a very reliable source on the Clemson football team.

Politics is changing, and while we shouldn’t change our principles, we must change our approach to elections. We need new candidates, new ideas, and a new intelligent approach to the issues. Nelsen brings all of these things; hear him out before you write him off.

Moving on…

Big three nice enough guys, nothing really “wrong” with any of them. But they are not strong enough to carry the reform movement forward at a time when it is just getting started.

Davis looks good. Wouldn’t have to give up his Senate seat, and already spent six years fighting for reform. Got a solid, big-picture grasp of the issues that no one else who has been mentioned can come close on. I don’t know the guy well, and think he’s smart but didn’t know if he had the pizazz to move the crowds, but I hear that he does and people respond to him. That’s what you need to win. Plus, he raised a lot of money and he knows how to do it after working with Sanford for so long. For that matter, he does have statewide campaign experience with the governor. All important factors.

I am warming to the idea of putting him out there. Of course, I have decided to support Bobby Jindal for president and I’ve never even heard the guy speak, so take this with a grain of salt. But I think this is the time for a real superstar who can be trusted. One thing Davis has that these other guys lack is sincerity. He is also a team player and his allies really like him. That’s the buzz I’m hearing. Down sides are that he just ran a race and has no statewide name ID (a problem any legislator will have, and that is hard to overcome). But if someone is out front for reform early and often and in a substantive manner, and gets the blessing of the reform crowd like Sanford and Club for Growth and the SC Policy Council, that could make a difference.

All a long shot in theory, but if he jumps in after next summer and the climate is right, I like his odds.

Course, maybe this is just wishful thinking and water cooler talk from a bunch of white guys in ties, but a lot of us think this is an interesting idea and we’d like to see a real reformer jump in the way Sanford did in 2002.

http://blogs.thestate.com/bradwarthensblog/2005/08/what_i_cut_from.html

will, is Tom paying you under the table or are you hoping for a pardon from the gub’ner so Tom might hire you down the road. Neither is going to happen.