South Carolina Politics

[vicupstate]

Which party would that be? Oil and gas companies give millions every year to both parties, as a way of playing both sides, which is fairly typical. In recent years, the GOP has gotten more than the Democrats, but if the Dem's take control of Congress, their share of "Big Oil" contributions will skyrocket, just as it was before '94.

Both parties are beholden to special interests, but Oil has never had a bigger friend than Bush /Cheney.

As for Norman, he had to give up his state House seat to run for Congress. That is the up side to his futile attempt to replace Spratt.

I'm glad this thread is revived.

What is everyone seeing out there? What statehouse races sem to be heating up? Is Jim Harrison in trouble in Columbia? Wallace Scarbrough in Charleston?

anyone?

[whitehourseview]

What I'm seeing is that on October 25, there are probably two state wide races up for grabs - Lt. Governor and Comptroller General. The rest of the constitutional offices seem to be leaning the GOP's way outside the margin of error.

As far as the State House goes, I haven't heard of any major shifts one way or another, I'd like to know that myself.

[krazeeboi]

As for Norman, he had to give up his state House seat to run for Congress. That is the up side to his futile attempt to replace Spratt.

Good to know!

Karen Floyd and Jim Rex had a debate not too long ago. I didn't even know Floyd doesn't have any experience in public education--not that that makes her disqualified, but it was an interesting fact nonetheless. Heck, that might even turn out to be a good thing.

[912]

Both parties are beholden to special interests, but Oil has never had a bigger friend than Bush /Cheney.

Can't blame politicians for issues with oil. Do you invest in a 401K? Chances are, the funds you're invested in have speculated in energy. THAT'S the big culprit in high oil prices this year.

It's the investors & speculators that are to blame for high gas....not the President!

[whitehourseview]

I paid a $1.93 for gas the other day. That's cheaper, adjusted for inflation, than my parents have paid, when they were my age. I'm ok with that.

Exxon Mobil's profit margin was 9.25% last year, that puts them about #178 out of the S&P 500.

If I want alternative sources of energy, which I do, I'd like for Exxon and other energy producers to have larger profit margins so they can continue to invest in alternative sources of energy, especially considering the large human resource and retirement price they have over the next 20 years. Alternative sources of energy usage will come from corporations like BP and Exxon. The mechanism for that will come from places like the Savannah River Site and Greenville's ICAR campus.

Seeing government and business in South Carolina friendly to both as they move to different sources and mechanisms of energy would be a wonderful thing.

[monsoon]

The problem isn't the amount of money the oil companies make and that is the wrong thing to be focused on.

One problem is the amount of oil that we import and the fact that it comes from very unstable parts of the world. It puts our national security at risk.

The other big problem is that the lack of any energy plan to develop alternatives to oi. It is disgraceful given the amount of problems that burning fossil fuels causes our nation ranging from pollution to global warming. The oil companies are not going to do this. The first oil crisis was in 1973 so they have had 33 years to do it and we are importing more oil than ever.

Prior to this year and adjusted for inflation gasoline peaked at the equivalent to $2.35/gallon in 1981. This year gasoline far exceeded this amount and I fully expect that after the election you will see the price go back up. You can't have a 45% decrease in price without any decrease in consumption unless shady deals are going on. Either before it happened or afterwards.

[Captain Worley]

Nah, oil prices will keep declining and then go up a little a few weeks before Memorial day. Dang speculators are the ones that drove up the prices.

Looks like that busy hurricane season caused by that bad old global warming didn't quite shake out the way it was expected. I believe a lot of the speculators los their shirts on that 'sure thing.'

[vicupstate]

I paid a $1.93 for gas the other day. That's cheaper, adjusted for inflation, than my parents have paid, when they were my age. I'm ok with that.

Exxon Mobil's profit margin was 9.25% last year, that puts them about #178 out of the S&P 500.

If I want alternative sources of energy, which I do, I'd like for Exxon and other energy producers to have larger profit margins so they can continue to invest in alternative sources of energy, especially considering the large human resource and retirement price they have over the next 20 years. Alternative sources of energy usage will come from corporations like BP and Exxon. The mechanism for that will come from places like the Savannah River Site and Greenville's ICAR campus.

Seeing government and business in South Carolina friendly to both as they move to different sources and mechanisms of energy would be a wonderful thing.

I don't know how old your parents are, but I remember paying less than 80 cents a gallon in the mid to late '80's. With 20 years at an annual inflation rate of 4%, that would mean it should be 80% more expensive today. That would put it at $1.44. That's significantly below 1.93, and FAR below the near $3.00 a gallon it was recently.

Of course prior to that, there were times when it was higher, but that was when inflation was in double digits or during the energy crisis.

OPEc recently cut back production which was offset by increased production by the Saudis. Bush and the Saudis have a long and close history.

I stopped believing the only thing that mattered was supply and demand when Enron created false shortages, and consequently robbed millions of Californians by charging exponently higher electric rates. If one company could do that, who is to say there isn't collusion among the oil companies, especially when their friends are running the country.

[kayman]

Nah, oil prices will keep declining and then go up a little a few weeks before Memorial day. Dang speculators are the ones that drove up the prices.

Looks like that busy hurricane season caused by that bad old global warming didn't quite shake out the way it was expected. I believe a lot of the speculators los their shirts on that 'sure thing.'

The reasons behind a lackluster hurricane season is because we are now in the midsts of another El Nino. An El Nino usually hinders the development of major tropical systems, but increases the threat of severe weather (including tornadoes, flooding) and major winter weather problems (icestorms, major snowfall) in the Southern portion of the country. This mainly do to an overactive Southern branch of the JetStream as a result of an El Nino. Global Warming will not only enhance this threat but making this even worst. Just think of all the icestorms, major flooding, and severe weather that occured during the winters of '00-'02.

[vicupstate]

What I'm seeing is that on October 25, there are probably two state wide races up for grabs - Lt. Governor and Comptroller General. The rest of the constitutional offices seem to be leaning the GOP's way outside the margin of error.

As far as the State House goes, I haven't heard of any major shifts one way or another, I'd like to know that myself.

Found this. The list seems to be a pretty credible IMO. There might be a seat or two that changes that isn't listed here, but that would probably be the extent of it. Be sure to link to the sections on Midlands, Upstate, Low Country, et al. to get the indepth info.

I would expect a 2-3 seat shift to one party or the other, nothing too major.

State House Race Summary

[whitehourseview]

I don't know how old your parents are, but I remember paying less than 80 cents a gallon in the mid to late '80's. With 20 years at an annual inflation rate of 4%, that would mean it should be 80% more expensive today. That would put it at $1.44. That's significantly below 1.93, and FAR below the near $3.00 a gallon it was recently.

Adjusted, my parents paid the equivalent of $2.66 for a gallon when they were my age. I paid a $1.93 earlier this evening.

[monsoon]

Average gasoline prices since the 70s (not adjusted for inflation)

• 1972 - 0.32
  
• 1975 - 0.45
  
• 1978 - 0.51
  
• 1979 - 1.11
  
• 1981 - 1.35
  
• 1986 - 0.65
  
• 1990 - 1.10
  
• 2001 - 1.45
  
• 2004 - 2.10
  
• 2005 - 3.50
  
• 2006 - 3.10
  
• current - 2.15
  

If gas prices were as they were in early August, there would be a lot more angry voters out there, but it has dropped at least a $1/gallon in the last two months. Coincidence?

[Captain Worley]

^ Yes, actually.

Expect the drop to continue after the elections, despite the conspiracy buffs, as OPEC nations don't scale back production, the Pruhoe Bay facility is back to pre-shutdown levels, and the decline of SUV slaes may show that the public is finally ending their love affair with huge SUVS.

[vicupstate]

In State House of Representative races:

Dems pick up a seat in Dorchester and two in Charleston.

GOP picks up one in Lancaster.

Very close race in Cherokee will go to a recount, but Dem holds slim lead.

Another very close race in Richland gave the incumbent GOP a small pluralitry lead.

If the recount leaders hold, the Dems pick up 2.

[Spartan]

So no major changes in SC. Great. I would be interested to know how many races were contested.

[krazeeboi]

It appears as though Bauer-R (lt. gov.) and Rex-D (sup. of ed.) squeaked out wins.

[vicupstate]

In State House of Representative races:

Dems pick up a seat in Dorchester and two in Charleston.

GOP picks up one in Lancaster.

Very close race in Cherokee will go to a recount, but Dem holds slim lead.

Another very close race in Richland gave the incumbent GOP a small pluralitry lead.

If the recount leaders hold, the Dems pick up 2.

Just an update now that all the votes are certified.

GOP picked up Lancaster seat, once held by former Gov. Hodges.

Dems picked up one each in Charleston and Dorchester. Net change +1 for Dems.

GOP failed to pick up seat in Cherokee County (two were contested). Dems failed to pick up the seat of controversial Charleston Rep. Wallace Scarbrough (by 40 votes). Dems failed to pick up open seat in Florence/Sumter counties that had some promise for them as well.

[Spartan]

I never thought that I would see this day... but actual change for the better may happen in SC next year. According to the Post & Courier, Sen. Pro Tem Glen McConnel is actually sponsoring a bill that would reorganize the statewide offices under the executive branch in the Governor's Cabinet.

"Governors [would] nominate with Senate approval the state education superintendent, treasurer, comptroller general, secretary of state, adjutant general and agriculture commissioner. All of those positions are currently elected."

Bills would remake agencies

The fact that this is coming from McConnel gives me hope that something might acutally be accomplished, because we all know that when he wants something to happen, it tends to happen.

The only office that was not included that should have been is the DOT. The article mentions that the governor has been pushing for this as well.

Next year should be an interesting year for SC politics.

[krazeeboi]

I read the same thing, but from another source (I think it was the Greenville News). In that article, it actually said that there seemed to be some support among legislators about the DOT's overhaul. We'll see what McConnell manages to make happen.

[Spartan]

Thats good to hear! 2007 could be very promising.... now if we could jsut get them to do something about those annexation laws we'd be in business!

[krazeeboi]

There are some bills that are currently held up in the senate judiciary. I posted some info about that in the annexation thread.

[Spartan]

I've read articles in various SC papers that said these were 'dead' bills.

[vicupstate]

I never thought that I would see this day... but actual change for the better may happen in SC next year. According to the Post & Courier, Sen. Pro Tem Glen McConnel is actually sponsoring a bill that would reorganize the statewide offices under the executive branch in the Governor's Cabinet.

"Governors [would] nominate with Senate approval the state education superintendent, treasurer, comptroller general, secretary of state, adjutant general and agriculture commissioner. All of those positions are currently elected."

Bills would remake agencies

The fact that this is coming from McConnel gives me hope that something might acutally be accomplished, because we all know that when he wants something to happen, it tends to happen.

The only office that was not included that should have been is the DOT. The article mentions that the governor has been pushing for this as well.

Next year should be an interesting year for SC politics.

I don;t want to bust your bubble, but he did the same thing last year, or something pretty similiar. I was surprised then myself. You certainly want McConnell in your corner, but the legislature hates Sanford, this is a very long way from being a done deal.

And you are right, those annexation bills never get out of committee.

[Spartan]

Hmm... well this is the first that I've heard of either one So if nothing else, we will be able to keep everyone updated on its progress here.

[krazeeboi]

I've read articles in various SC papers that said these were 'dead' bills.

Bummer. Maybe I'll do some emailing and see what I come up with.

It seems like the Senate judiciary can really be a bill's graveyard.