Posted on 06/10/2014 9:24:49 PM PDT by Steelfish
Sen. Lindsey Graham Wins GOP Nod in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham won South Carolina's Republican party outright on Tuesday, defeating six tea party challengers and avoiding a runoff.
Graham, 58, had about 59 percent of the vote in early returns, far more than what was needed to avoid the runoff. State Sen. Lee Bright came in second, with nearly 14 percent.
Aside from Bright, those arrayed against Graham included Columbia pastor Det Bowers, Upstate businessman Richard Cash and Charleston-area businesswoman Nancy Mace, the first female cadet graduate from The Citadel, South Carolina's military college. Orangeburg County attorney Bill Connor and Columbia lawyer Benjamin Dunn were also seeking the nomination.
Graham, who has been in office since 2002, had a hefty fundraising advantage: He has raised more than $12 million since his last re-election bid in 2008, while none of his opponents passed the $1 million mark.
The challengers have hammered away at Graham, saying he's not conservative enough for South Carolina. That didn't matter to Ben Lister, a 48-year-old financial planner from Greenville who voted for the senator.
"I know that some people are saying he should be more conservative, but what does that mean?" Lister asked. "I want a politician who actually thinks about the issues instead of going along with the crowd."
Meanwhile, Graham's fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott won his primary by a wide margin, setting the stage for South Carolina to elect a black person to the U.S. Senate for the first time.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Not me. I voted against him.
I asked those around me “why?” They were afraid to vote for a newcomer because he/she could be beaten by the Democrats in November. That’s the consensus I’m hearing. But in heavily Republican SC, that wouldn’t happen. But this was the thinking. I won’t be voting for Lindsey in the general.
Then they are idiots. The low-information Republican will be the death of this country.
Evidently the people of S.C. like him pretty much. The race wasn’t even close but we should feel pretty good about the fact that we have pulled even the rinos to the right. Cantor losing will send shock waves through the party and immigration reform is dead.
If we're ever to get out of this mess, then ultimately it's the voters who need to think smart. Those in VA-7 did; those in SC didn't.
Agree that voters need to think smart. But the conservstive activists do also. Divide the slate. Divide the vote.
Beyond stupid.
The fact that most of them can read is not the point. It’s being informed. We are viewing the average primary voters through the lens of our own understanding because we keep ourselves informed of the Senator Graham types. But the average voters (and again, this is mainly women voters) have no clue. They are too busy either reading the gossip magazines, disciples of Oprah or at most simply catch a glimpse of the day’s major headlines. This group is swayed by last minute self-serving promotional ads. To put it differently, outside of the usual die-hards, the reasonably informed primary voters would NOT have voted for Graham. In California an indicted state senator (Leland) whose name appeared for a statewide office garnered 300,000 votes!
The bottom line is that there is ZERO excuse to not be informed. Especially being a supposed right wing republican. An uninformed voter is the problem. they elect liberals, whether GOP or dem.
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