From the Aiken Standard: Senate race too close to call

By HALEY HUGHES Staff writer
It appears the fat lady has not yet sung for Senate District 25 — one candidate’s camp is declaring itself the outright winner and the other camp is not conceding and may request a recount with a 187-vote margin standing between them.
Republican candidate Shane Massey of Edgefield County has 50.7 percent of the votes while Democratic candidate Rep. Bill Clyburn of Aiken County has 49.3 percent. Clyburn carried Aiken and Saluda counties while Massey carried Edgefield and McCormick counties.
Under state law, a candidate must receive 50 percent plus one vote to win an election definitively.
In the entire district, Massey garnered 7,125 votes and Clyburn 6,938 votes.
“Based on the numbers, it appears I have won,” Massey said. “We knew from the beginning it was going to be a competitive race and it has been. The numbers demonstrate that people in District 25 want a change.”
Conflicting reports surfaced Tuesday night on who would fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Tommy Moore earlier this year. Even the South Carolina Republican Party released a statement congratulating Massey on his win though the results were clouded in uncertainty.
Aiken County Registration and Elections Commission Chairman Stuart Bedenbaugh could not be reached for comment.
Clyburn’s camp was not ready to accept either defeat or victory Tuesday.
“We are not going to concede,” said Phil Bailey, campaign spokesperson. “The numbers strongly suggest going to an automatic recount.”
State law requires automatic recounts when the difference between the number of votes is less than 1 percent. In the absence of an automatic recount, one may be generated if a petition is filed.
Massey stated his calculations clearly showed the margin was more than 1 percent of the total votes cast.
Clyburn said people were divided on whether Massey’s margin equaled 50 percent plus one vote.
“(The numbers are) so close we don’t know,” he said, adding his campaign would take a fresh look at the numbers this morning and decide on how to proceed after gaining input from the Clyburn family. “Our best appears not good enough, but we’ll see what the numbers bring.”
Massey, 32, is a partner at Nance, McCants & Massey law firm in Aiken and has had no previous political experience. Clyburn, 66, has had 27 years of political experience and is currently serving as state House Representative for District 82.

On Wednesday night, we had a public hearing for a water rate increase for a few hundred of my constituents. My remarks obviously irritated one of the high dollar attorneys for the utilities company. She insisted my statement contained unsubstantiated claims. I guess that’s what they pay these high-class lawyers to do. Here’s the letter I read to the PSC:
November 7, 2007

G. O’Neal Hamilton, Chairman
South Carolina of Public Service Commission
101 Executive Center Dr., Suite 100
Columbia, SC 29210

Re: Docket 2007-286-WS

Dear Public Service Commissioners:

Thank you very much for having a public hearing in Anderson concerning the rate increase proposal by the Utilities Services of South Carolina. I have a number of constituents with documents verifying less than average water pressure, low quality customer service and water quality issues.

There is also a comparison of neighboring water companies charging rates already less than those of the USSC. I am sure the USSC will give you several reasons to justify these rate increases. For whatever these reasons may be, I would think the neighboring water companies have similar circumstances yet the neighboring customers seem to get fairer treatment. Simply put, these customers should not be subject to funding the mismanagement practices of USSC. It is not their problem. I would like to encourage the members of the Public Services Commission to take great efforts to examine the issues raised by my constituents.

I am a retail pharmacist. In my profession, an unsatisfied customer can simply choose to shop at a different drug store in town. Utilities customers do not have an option, therefore we ask you, the Public Service Commission, to intervene and protect these working families. They simply cannot afford an unfair price increase for an essential need such as water.

With warmest personal regards, I remain

Respectfully,

Kevin L. Bryant
South Carolina Senate District 3

Since Sam Brownback backed out of the presidential race, I was invited to sit down and chat with Gov. Mitt Romney last week in Greenville. I’ve decided to support his candidacy and will serve on SC’s Romney for President. He will be in Anderson on Tuesday (11/6) at 5:45 at the Main Street Deli.

When Mitt Romney took office, Massachusetts had a $2 billion dollar budget, now there are $500 million in trust funds. This astronomical feat was done by reducing waste in government and growing the economy with tax cuts. Spending only grew about 3%. Gov. Romney explained to me some specific savings in their Medicaid Prescription plan, efforts I’ve been working on myself.

Let’s be honest, the mother’s milk of politics is money. You can have the best message in the world, but you’ve got to convey that message to the voters. If you are reading this post, you are (like me) a political junkie that will do your own research. Unfortunately the masses do not investigate. The Romney team is a well oiled machine; better organized than any other campaign I’ve ever seen.

Since Sam Brownback backed out of the presidential race, I was invited to sit down and chat with Gov. Mitt Romney last week in Greenville. I’ve decided to support his candidacy and will serve on SC’s Romney for President. He will be in Anderson on Tuesday (11/6) at 5:45 at the Main Street Deli.

When Mitt Romney took office, Massachusetts had a $2 billion dollar budget, now there are $500 million in trust funds. This astronomical feat was done by reducing waste in government and growing the economy with tax cuts. Spending only grew about 3%. Gov. Romney explained to me some specific savings in their Medicaid Prescription plan, efforts I’ve been working on myself.

Let’s be honest, the mother’s milk of politics is money. You can have the best message in the world, but you’ve got to convey that message to the voters. If you are reading this post, you are (like me) a political junkie that will do your own research. Unfortunately the masses do not investigate. The Romney team is a well oiled machine; better organized than any other campaign I’ve ever seen.

I found some interesting statistics the other day. Below is a list of deaths per year in our Military. My heart goes out to all of the families that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Thanks to the poster for revealing a pasting error. The figures come from page 10.

1980-2,392…..1981-2,380…..1982-2,319…..1983-2,465
1984-1,999…..1985-2,252…..1986-1,984…..1987-1,983
1988-1,819…..1989-1,636…..1990-1,507…..1991-1,787
1992-1,293…..1993-1,213…..1994-1,075…..1995-1,040
1996-974…….1997-817…….1998-827…….1999-796
2000-758…….2001-891…….2002-999…….2003-1,228
2004-1,874…..2005-1,942…..2006-1,858

You may initially feel confused when you look at these figures –especially when you see that in 1980, during the term of President Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities. What this clearly indicates is that our media and our liberal politicians pick and choose and tend to present only those facts that support their agenda driven reporting. Another fact our left media and politicians like to slant is that these brave men and women losing their lives are minorities. Wrong again – Iraqi Freedom Fatalities over March 2003-June 2007 appear similar to our population breakdown. Regardless of how we crunch these numbers, we must remember that these figures represent the life of a son or daughter that gave up our their life for our freedom. (from page 22):
American Indian or Alaska Native………..259……1.00%
Asian………………………………..227……0.88%
African American……………………2,1108……..17%
Hispanic or Latino…………………..1,682……6.51%
Multiple races, pending, or unknown……2,377……9.20%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander……..146……0.57%
White……………………………..18,919…..73.24%
Total 25,830

These statistics are published by DOD