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Clinton wins S.C. straw poll
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By LEE BANDY
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Staff Writer
Richland County Democrats held the nation’s first straw poll for the 2008 presidential race Wednesday and the surprise winner was U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
“We’re simply delighted,” said Bob Kunst, president of Hillarynow.com, who is traveling the country promoting Clinton’s candidacy.
“This should help us in our effort. It gives us a nice boost.”
Clinton’s victory at the sparesely attended event was a mild upset. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, a native South Carolinian and last year’s Democratic vice presidential candidate, had been considered the favorite.
Clinton got 44 votes to 34 for Edwards. Virginia Gov. John Warner came in third with 32 votes and U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware got 24 votes.
Everyone else scored in the single digits.
The straw poll was conducted by the Democratic Party of Richland County, the most Democratic county in South Carolina and the state’s second-most populous.
Clinton’s supporters worked hard to get their voters to the county party’s event.
Earlier in the day, Kunst promoted Clinton for president at a State House news conference and introduced the beginning of an organized effort here.
Margaret Ann Palmer, a retired state government worker from Columbia, is state director of Hillarynow.com.
Backers hoisted homemade signs, saying, “Hillary Cleaning Up Bush’s Mess” and “Hillary Is the Answer.”
Kunst, based in Miami Beach, said Clinton’s political advisers are aware of his push but stop short of saying it has her blessings. Clinton’s Washington office said Kunst is operating on his own, without any (name removed by moderator)ut from the senator.
Kunst traveled to 100 cities and conducted more than 510 news interviews between August 2003 and November 2004.
Kunst came here from the Bonneroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., attended by some 90,000 people. There, he promoted Clinton with flyers, buttons and bumper stickers.
He worked Main Street most of the afternoon, trying to recruit supporters and to get them to attend the straw poll held in the office parking lot of Columbia attorney Joe McCulloch.
There, there was music, drinks, light food and politics — and retired U.S Sen. Fritz Hollings, who also spoke.
Kunst said Clinton “is the strongest Democrat, and if she stops playing ‘centrist’ and becomes the leader she is capable of being, she will be the first woman president in U.S history — with enormous international implications.”
thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/11905946.htm
http://www.thestate.com/images/common/spacer.gif
By LEE BANDY
http://www.thestate.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Staff Writer
Richland County Democrats held the nation’s first straw poll for the 2008 presidential race Wednesday and the surprise winner was U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
“We’re simply delighted,” said Bob Kunst, president of Hillarynow.com, who is traveling the country promoting Clinton’s candidacy.
“This should help us in our effort. It gives us a nice boost.”
Clinton’s victory at the sparesely attended event was a mild upset. Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, a native South Carolinian and last year’s Democratic vice presidential candidate, had been considered the favorite.
Clinton got 44 votes to 34 for Edwards. Virginia Gov. John Warner came in third with 32 votes and U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware got 24 votes.
Everyone else scored in the single digits.
The straw poll was conducted by the Democratic Party of Richland County, the most Democratic county in South Carolina and the state’s second-most populous.
Clinton’s supporters worked hard to get their voters to the county party’s event.
Earlier in the day, Kunst promoted Clinton for president at a State House news conference and introduced the beginning of an organized effort here.
Margaret Ann Palmer, a retired state government worker from Columbia, is state director of Hillarynow.com.
Backers hoisted homemade signs, saying, “Hillary Cleaning Up Bush’s Mess” and “Hillary Is the Answer.”
Kunst, based in Miami Beach, said Clinton’s political advisers are aware of his push but stop short of saying it has her blessings. Clinton’s Washington office said Kunst is operating on his own, without any (name removed by moderator)ut from the senator.
Kunst traveled to 100 cities and conducted more than 510 news interviews between August 2003 and November 2004.
Kunst came here from the Bonneroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn., attended by some 90,000 people. There, he promoted Clinton with flyers, buttons and bumper stickers.
He worked Main Street most of the afternoon, trying to recruit supporters and to get them to attend the straw poll held in the office parking lot of Columbia attorney Joe McCulloch.
There, there was music, drinks, light food and politics — and retired U.S Sen. Fritz Hollings, who also spoke.
Kunst said Clinton “is the strongest Democrat, and if she stops playing ‘centrist’ and becomes the leader she is capable of being, she will be the first woman president in U.S history — with enormous international implications.”
thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/11905946.htm
) how close to collapse the democratic party is if the black vote continues to slide, even by a few percentages, toward the gop.