# Political nobody wins SC Democratic US Senate nomination in strangest political upset of the year. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 9, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518 "2010-06-09T07:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/21 "2010-06-09T18:21:22Z")
Seriously, in a not-too-hot primary in a not-so-big state, somebody can win just by nailing a couple of key districts, so I’d say it’s a vagary of party primary politics and non-compulsary elections, among other things… ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/22 "2010-06-09T18:34:14Z")
Well the plot thickens. [http://www.wltx.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88409&catid=2](http://www.wltx.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88409&catid=2) Dude’s got a pending felony charge. Great. It’d sure be interesting to be a fly on the wall at a state party meeting right now. I know there was only a 5% chance of the Demint losing anyway, but dammit I wanted my 5% chance! ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/23 "2010-06-09T18:49:28Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > Well the plot thickens. > [404 Not Found | wltx.com](http://www.wltx.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88409&catid=2) > > Dude’s got a pending felony charge. Great. It’d sure be interesting to be a fly on the wall at a state party meeting right now. I know there was only a 5% chance of the Demint losing anyway, but dammit I wanted my 5% chance! From the link: _He’s accused of showing Internet photos to a University of South Carolina student. The felony charge carries up to five years in prison._ WTF kinda crime is that? If the gal is in college, she’s most likely old enough to see porn and/or copulate at will. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/24 "2010-06-09T18:56:06Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > Well the plot thickens. > [404 Not Found | wltx.com](http://www.wltx.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88409&catid=2) > > Dude’s got a pending felony charge. Great. It’d sure be interesting to be a fly on the wall at a state party meeting right now. I know there was only a 5% chance of the Demint losing anyway, but dammit I wanted my 5% chance! An obscenity charge - that’s going to sting. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/25 "2010-06-09T19:10:46Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > WTF kinda crime is that? If the gal is in college, she’s most likely old enough to see porn and/or copulate at will. This was South Carolina. Judging by **Gyrate** ’s post earlier, this could be a Carl “HORSE PORN” Paladino\* thing. \*Yes, that is officially his name now. Carl “HORSE PORN” Paladino. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/26 "2010-06-09T19:15:15Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > An obscenity charge - that’s going to sting. You know they aren’t going to play up that portion of it. The word felony is in there, and that’s going to hurt. What might be useful is to use it to bar him from the full race, putting Vic Rawl back in if the DNC thinks he has better chances. Then again, if people would rather vote for a complete unknown rather than you, I’d guess you aren’t well liked. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/27 "2010-06-09T19:23:07Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > This was South Carolina. Judging by **Gyrate** ’s post earlier, this could be a Carl “HORSE PORN” Paladino\* thing. > > \*Yes, that is officially his name now. Carl “HORSE PORN” Paladino. :eek::eek: Let the record reflect that I said “Eww” in as masculine a manner as possible. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/28 "2010-06-09T19:29:55Z")
This is hilarious, or it would be if… nah, it’s still hilarious. BTW, he’s not going to get squat from the DNC unless his poll numbers are good enough. A good friend of mine was the Dem candidate for Congress a few years back in a district where the GOP candidate has handily won for decades. He was told that he would get money for having poll numbers at a certain level at certain times. He did get lots of free advice from some high profile people but that was it at the national level. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/29 "2010-06-09T19:35:27Z")
I’m not sure I buy the “voting randomly” or “voting alphabetically” argument. I’d expect that the sorts of people who would turn out for an off-year primary election would be at least somewhat informed on the candidates (even if that “information” consists of just knowing who their media of choice told them to vote for), and US Senator has to be pretty close to the top of the ballot. I’d think that the people who genuinely didn’t know who either candidate was, or who didn’t care, would just stay home. The only scenario that seems plausible to me is that this was driven by cross-party votes from folks who actually support DeMint, and want him to face the weakest opposition possible. The whole thing reminds me of the US Representative general election here in Montana, two years ago. The Democratic challenger to Republican incumbent Denny Rehberg literally spent zero dollars on his campaign. He had no ads, no fliers, even his official campaign website was on a free webhost. If he had any sort of word-of-mouth operation going, it was a pretty pathetic one, given that it didn’t even penetrate to this college town. He didn’t win, but he did manage to take about a third of the vote, which says to me that a third of Montanans will either blindly vote for whichever name has a D next to it, or really hate Rehberg. ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/30 "2010-06-09T20:03:59Z")
> **[Sen. Nominee Was Kicked Out of Army, Has Felony Charge Pending](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2010_Elections/alvin-greene-surprise-win-south-carolina-primary-felony/story?id=10867602&page=2)** > > Alvin Greene, the surprise South Carolina Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is facing a pending felony charge, according to court records obtained by the Associated Press. The unemployed military veteran shocked state Democrats Tuesday when he... Apparently he was kicked out of the army as well, unflattering stuff is coming out pretty quickly now since candidates thought to have no chance of winning don’t get vetted that well. A Columbia station did an interview with him today that they will be airing tonight, so we’ll have some video soon to see just how trainwrecky the situation is. ---
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/31 "2010-06-09T20:28:14Z")
[http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/south-carolina-dems-call-on-greene-to-drop-out-of-senate-race.php](http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/south-carolina-dems-call-on-greene-to-drop-out-of-senate-race.php) And even crazier, the party is now asking him to step down. Just bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/32 "2010-06-09T20:31:28Z")
I dunno anything about Rawl, but he’s gotta be feeling like something the cat did and forgot to cover up about now. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/33 "2010-06-09T21:32:44Z")
I haven’t stopped laughing since I read this. BTW how many senators from south carolina have been black felons? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/34 "2010-06-09T21:41:08Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > BTW how many senators from south carolina have been black felons? South Carolina has never had a black senator, so I’m going to guess the number is approximately zero. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/35 "2010-06-09T21:56:59Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > This was South Carolina. Judging by **Gyrate** ’s post earlier, this could be a Carl “HORSE PORN” Paladino\* thing. > > \*Yes, that is officially his name now. Carl “HORSE PORN” Paladino. I heard he prefers Carl “INTERSPECIES EROTICA” Paladino. And Randall says the horse’s name is Kelly. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/36 "2010-06-09T23:41:31Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I haven’t stopped laughing since I read this. > > BTW how many senators from south carolina have been black felons? I’m pretty sure that even implying such a thing about a South Carolina senator would get one savagely [beaten with a cane](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Brooks#Sumner_assault). ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/37 "2010-06-09T23:44:31Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > WTF kinda crime is that? If the gal is in college, she’s most likely old enough to see porn and/or copulate at will. It has nothing to do with her age. You’re not allowed to go around showing pornography to adults against their will. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/38 "2010-06-10T01:09:06Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Kolga](#): > > > > I think that guy is from Georgia. > > [Nope.](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/07/29/2009-07-29_south_carolina_man_busted_for_having_sex_with_horse.html) To quote Jon Stewart, “world’s most alluring horse”. [The Georgia one](http://www.prosebeforehos.com/quote-of-the-day/05/01/mule-sex-secession-watermelon-fucking-all-in-a-days-work/) was a mule. ---
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/39 "2010-06-10T02:15:12Z")
A complete unknown who didn’t campaign, give a speech or make any signs wins the South Carolina Democratic Senate race. After giving the party a shock (the leading, now defeated, candidate, Vic Rawl, was readying for the general election), it was discovered that Alvin Greene has a pending felony charge. Supposedly, he has refused to withdraw from the race. OK, so what can the South Carolina Democratic Party do? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518/40 "2010-06-10T03:44:08Z")
Eh, just run him. If he won the primary without campaigning at all imagine what he’ll do to Jim DeMint\*. _assuming DeMint’s oh-so-predictable gay sex scandal_\* breaks before he gets re-elected. \*\*yes, I’m serious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-nobody-wins-sc-democratic-us-senate-nomination-in-strangest-political-upset-of-the-year/542518.md?page=3)