Gary Johnson hasn’t swamped voters in South Carolina with e-mail blasts, or inundated them with direct-mail attacking his opponents. And he certainly hasn’t sent out any robocalls. Third party candidates typically can’t afford such strategies. But Gary Johnson is not the typical third party candidate, he’s mounting one of the most unusual political comebacks in recent memory. Comebacks in politics are nothing new. But it’s the rare candidate who can engineer a comeback in the same election cycle. Though his return most likely will not lead to him taking up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave…

The list of electoral victories the Tea Party has scored is lengthy, with some of its biggest triumphs coming right here in South Carolina. All four freshmen congressmen received strong Tea Party backing in 2010, as did Gov. Nikki Haley. Not to mention Sen. Jim DeMint, who is nationally recognized as the Tea Party’s patriarch. This weekend the state Tea Party has its annual convention at Myrtle Beach. Not coincidentally, the GOP has also descended on the state in advance of the Jan. 21 primary. As Katon Dawson, Gov. Rick Perry’s chair in South Carolina, said: “Everybody wants the Tea Party …

The presidential campaign of Jon Huntsman, which began with much promise, including an announcement in front of the Statue of Liberty, came to an end on Monday. Prior to saying he was suspending his campaign Huntsman, chastised his fellow Republicans, ”This race has degenerated into an onslaught of personal attacks and negative campaigning not worthy of the American people,” Huntsman said. The former Utah governor then called on his former competitors to remove the “toxic form” from campaigns and to “cease attacking each other and speak to the American people with bold ideas.” Before a packed…

As the Republican presidential primary comes to South Carolina much will be made about fundraising and its importance in determining the winner. Fundraising is just as important in local elections, as the final campaign reports, which were posted yesterday, indicate. They can be found in more detail at the website of the South Carolina State Ethics Commission HERE. Candidates filed their final contribution and expense reports on Jan. 10. Some of the highlights: The winner of City Council Seat Six, Larry Goodson, raised $3,430.26 compared to $400 raised by the man he defeated, incumbent …

Not long after Mitt Romney gave his victory speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Sen. Jim DeMint predicted the former Massachusetts governor would win the primary on Jan. 21 in South Carolina. DeMint appeared Tuesday night as a guest on Mark Levin's radio program. In a direct shot to Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, he chided, "Republicans who have criticized some of what I consider free market principles here." The junior senator from South Carolina, who is considered the godfather of the Tea Party nationally, said Gingrich and Rick Santorum might still have a chance to win in the Palmetto …

For the last several months presidential candidates have told South Carolina voters time and again how important the state is in the nominating process. While stump speeches are notoriously more truthy than truthful, boasting of the Palmetto State’s importance has proven to be accurate. Tuesday’s results from Iowa confirmed as much. The caucuses did little to sort out who will be the eventual nominee, but they did remove the wheat from the proverbial chaff. Rep. Michele Bachmann has bowed out of the race and Gov. Rick Perry is wavering. Perry and Bachmann had negligible support in New …

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, whose campaign has failed to sustain serious traction in any of the early GOP voting states, has scaled back her upcoming South Carolina appearances in a major way. Originally scheduled to appear in Greenville at Furman University's higher education center and a ballroom at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, Bachmann is now scheduled to attend much smaller events — a house party in Greenville and events at local restaurants in Spartanburg and Fort Mill. One of Bachmann’s key players in South Carolina, consultant Wesley Donehue, quickly shot down the …

With Iowa voters ready to cast votes in the statewide caucus on Tuesday, we asked our team of pundits to weigh in on the latest from Corn Country. In the last two weeks, Texas Congressman Ron Paul rose to the top or near the top in polls. Not coincidentally, Newt Gingrich, who received a significant bounce in November and early December, saw his numbers plummet. Gingrich’s fall came largely as a result of blistering attack ads run by the Paul campaign. Now, Ron Paul finds himself on the receiving end of such ads. So, we asked our team about Ron Paul’s staying power and the effectiveness of …

As many commentators have already noted, the pursuit of the Republican Party’s nomination for president has been one of the most — if not the most—unpredictable races in the modern era. And votes are yet to be cast. No candidate typifies the capriciousness of the race thus far better than Texas Gov. Rick Perry. And now Perry, once thought to be written off, is polling in double-digits again in Iowa and South Carolina. What makes Perry different from the others who rose just as quickly as they fell is his strong grassroots organization. At the center of that organization is Katon Dawson, a …

On Friday afternoon, a buoyant crowd at the Boiling Springs Fire Department in Greenville cheered as Mitt Romney and his wife Ann took the stage side by side with their new best friends, Gov. Nikki Haley and her husband Michael. Earlier in the day, Haley confirmed that she would be endorsing Romney for president. The endorsement from Haley is a significant one for Romney, and when combined with endorsements from the likes of Chris Christie and Tim Pawlenty would seem to make him the preferred choice among the so-called establishment. In many other election cycles getting tabbed by the …

This is the latest of an ongoing series we'll be running here at Mauldin Patch, where we'll talk at length with a voter about the Republican Presidential Primary. This week we talk with George McLeer, the Executive Director of the Mauldin Cultural Center. Previously, we spoke with Bill Pomeroy. You can watch that video here. George has decided to support Jon Huntsman, the former Utah Governor and Ambassador to China. He talks about the issues that matter to him and how he thinks the race will eventually shake out. If you'd like to have your voice heard send an e-mail to shawn@patch.com.

On Tuesday a story in the National Journal quoted South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Chad Connelly as being dubious about Mitt Romney’s commitment to the Palmetto State. A day later, the former Massachusetts Governor’s campaign announced he’ll be appearing at Boiling Springs Fire Station on 208 Blacks Drive in Greenville. Having fallen well behind Newt Gingrich in polls in three of the first four voting states, Romney has stepped up the attacks on the former Speaker of the House, referencing his Tiffany’s expense account, among other things yesterday. After months without doing so, …

The South Carolina Republican Primary is less than 40 days away—on January 21— and the first votes of the primary season are due to be cast in Iowa in less than 20 days—on January 3. So, we've started checking with voters who have been following the campaign closely. Last week, we talked to them about Herman Cain's fall and Newt Gingrich's rise. This week, we ask them about the candidates' videos. Rick Perry's "Strong" has been much talked about and sharply divided many in the Republican Party. Here they are: From Ron Paul: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jzi3HBCS2MFrom Rick Perry: http://www…

In the last of four stops in the Palmetto State on Thursday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry portrayed himself as the outsider choice for the GOP Presidential nomination. Speaking to diners at Stax on Orchard Park Drive in Greenville, Perry reiterated many of the proposals he has raised on the stump and in the debates. Perry told the audience—which filled about ninety percent of the restaurant—that his home state of Texas is the thirteenth largest economy in the world, yet its state representatives are part-time—proof in his mind that there is no need for a full-time Congress in Washington, DC. The …

Since he began campaigning in earnest in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich’s stump speech hasn’t changed very much. He refrains from criticizing his fellow GOP candidates. He calls Barack Obama a Saul Alinsky-style Socialist and the best food stamp president in history. He challenges the President to a Lincoln-Douglas-style series of debates. He talks about American exceptionalism and the anti-religious strain he believes is spreading across the country. What has changed is Gingrich’s audience, particularly its size. Six months ago the Gingrich campaign was all but dead. Gingrich had slammed GOP …

The South Carolina Republican Primary is less than two months away—on January 21 and the first votes of the primary season are due to be cast in Iowa in less than a month—on January 3. So, from now until primary day here in South Carolina we’ll be checking in regularly with a group of voters to get their views on the latest happenings on the campaign trail. And each Friday we’ll talk in-depth with one voter about his or her thoughts on the race as a whole. If you’d like to be included in that group send an e-mail to shawn@patch.com. The big news in the last week has been Herman Cain’s …

This is the first of an ongoing series we'll be running here at Mauldin Patch, where we'll talk at length with a voter about the Republican Presidential Primary. We start off by chatting with Bill Pomeroy. Bill works at the Crucible Chemical Company in Greenville, is active in his church and works on the web site for the Mauldin Chamber of Commerce. Bill has been following the GOP race very closely since the summer. He thinks the economy is the key issue, but solving the immigration problem is also important to South Carolina voters. He was a strong Bachmann supporter and still plans on …

GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich completed a three-day tour of South Carolina with a town hall before an overflow crowd at Tommy’s Country Ham House in Greenville on Wednesday morning. Never one to lack confidence, Gingrich was brimming with energy, having engineered one of the most remarkable turnarounds in recent political history. In May, Gingrich’s campaign was declared all but dead. Now, multiple polls show him with a double digit lead in South Carolina and neck and neck in the national polls against frontrunner Mitt Romney. Now that he’s risen in the polls, Gingrich has gotten the …

Larry Goodson Won the run-off election today for Mauldin City Council Seat 6. Goodson defeating incumbent Michael Reynolds, 597 votes (or 62 percent) to 362 votes. Goodson and Reynolds were sent to the run-off when Goodson won 48.6 percent of the vote on November 8. Goodson joins Scott Crosby, who won Seat 4 and Dennis Raines, who won the mayoral race, as new members of the city council. Bob Cook ran unopposed for Seat 2 and was declared the winner in October. In Simpsonville, Perry Eichor handily defeated Tammy Bagwell in the race for mayor, 907 votes (or 65 percent) to 490 votes. In all, …

Every Tuesday from now until the Republican Primary on Jan. 21, Patch will look back at the primaries in South Carolina from 1980-2008, with an emphasis on the GOP. Every Republican winner in South Carolina earned the nomination, an unprecedented streak in electoral history. This is the first in the series. When the presidential primaries of 1980 began, the United States was in a situation similar to the one it is in now. The country had high unemployment and had problems in its economy that appeared so profound as to seem irrevocable. It was soaring inflation and dependence on foreign oil …