By fitsnews – September 3, 2012
JUST SOUTH OF CONVENTION SITE, LOCAL PARTY REFUSES TO DISPLAY PRESIDENT’S CAMPAIGN POSTERS
Thirty-five miles south of Charlotte, N.C., site of this year’s Democratic National Convention, sits the former mill town of Lancaster, S.C. – population 10,000.
Part of the Palmetto State’s fifth congressional district (which was represented by Democrat John Spratt from 1983-2011), Lancaster has emerged in recent years as a “swing” region of South Carolina – meaning it’s one of the few areas of the state where Democrats are expected to be competitive.
One of the keys to that competitiveness in this election cycle? Making sure that no Barack Obama campaign signs appear at the local party headquarters, apparently.
Wait … what?
That’s right. While some local Democratic headquarters have gone so far as to incorporate Obama onto the American flag, Lancaster County Democrats are adopting a “less is more” approach when it comes to promoting their commander-in-chief.
Or more precisely … they’re not promoting Obama at all (despite the fact that national Democrats are preparing to launch a weeklong celebration of the president just a half-hour up the road).
“Forward?” Not in Lancaster, S.C.
How did we discover this? Bizarrely …
According to an article posted last week in The Lancaster News, a Lancaster town councilwoman was recently threatened by a woman over “an issue involving President Barack Obama campaign posters.”
(The full article is not available online without a subscription, but we were provided with a printed copy).
The council member – Linda Blackmon-Brace – said the woman “raised her arms” and “yelled profanity-laden threats” at her over the lack of Obama posters at the Lancaster County Democratic Party headquarters (which is also home to the law offices of S.C. House candidate Mandy Powers Norrell).
Blackmon-Brace filed an incident report with the local police department – which it turned out was the second police report filed in as many days involving the lack of Obama signs.
In the other incident, an unknown man visited party headquarters and demanded that Obama campaign posters be displayed in the windows. The local Democratic party told the man “that wasn’t possible,” at which point he became “agitated and loud.”
Wow …
South Carolina hasn’t supported a Democrat for president since 1976, when it backed Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford. And while a recent analysis by Karl Rove claimed the Palmetto State was possibly in play in 2012, most analysts believe “Republican” nominee Mitt Romney will win the state convincingly.
South Carolina is one of eight states that U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to visit since taking office in January 2009, although our sources say that he is contemplating a public school visit to Dillon, S.C. later this month.
Maybe while he’s here he could swing by Lancaster and ask them to post his signs …
***
