***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — “South Carolina’s longest-serving congressman said Monday he’s running for a 15th term, ending weeks of speculation from Republicans on whether he might retire,” according to The Associated Press. “Democratic U.S. Rep. John Spratt said he looks forward to a tough campaign against Republican state Sen. Mick Mulvaney of Indian Land.”
SCOOP-TWEET — @kokomodianne Rep. John Spratt (D-SC 5th Dist) confirms he will run for re-election. Says he just filed with elections officials.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — The opposite ends of the musical spectrum are celebrating today – 2 Live Crew’s Luther Campbell and folk goddess, Lori McKenna.
***GOT AN EVENT, STORY, TIP OR ANYTHING ELSE ON YOUR MIND YOU WANT INCLUDED IN PALMETTO MORNING? CLICK HERE AND TELL US ABOUT IT***
NATIONAL LENS — FOR EVERY ACTION … — “Senate Republicans warned Monday that the bruising fight over health care reform could deliver a knockout blow to another Democratic priority: passage of a climate change bill in 2010.” Politico reports that “Democrats aren’t united on climate change, and the bitter battle over health care has left even sympathetic Republicans with little desire to help — a dynamic that would likely doom the bill to legislative failure. ‘It makes it hard to do anything because of the way this was handled,’ said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham didn’t elaborate, but he didn’t have to — the fierce partisan fights during the past few weeks have torn away at the Senate’s clubby decorum, raising temperatures, fraying nerves and creating what one Democratic senator has called a ‘very high’ level of distrust among members.”
NOT VERY MERRY — Although SC “would have 481,000 uninsured residents covered under the [health care] plan … Republicans lashed out Monday at the proposed legislation, and also took swipes at Democrats for the tactics used in moving the bill forward. ‘This is Washington politics at its worst, and I urge the American people to help scrap this backroom bill,’ said U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C.” However, Rep. Jim Clyburn, “one of the highest-ranking members in House, said all the criticism is itself rushed. ‘I don’t know what is in the Senate version, and no one knows what the blended version will yield,’ Clyburn said Monday evening. ‘It is a bit premature to say how South Carolina will be affected.’”
VIEWPOINT — The Post and Courier calls it the “The worst of Washington”
BREAKING — Senator Graham, this morning, “expressed skepticism that President Barack Obama will sign healthcare reform legislation by his State of the Union address.”
QUOTABLE — “Graham also indirectly objected to a portion of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) Sunday floor speech in which he called opponents of the overhaul bill ‘the birthers, the fanatics, the people running around in right-wing militia and Aryan support groups.’” Graham: “I’m not a member of a militia. I’m not a birther. I’m a senator who wants to reform healthcare but I’m not going to allow my country to become a socialized nation when it comes to healthcare.”
***SIGN UP NOW TO HAVE PALMETTO MORNING DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EACH MORNING***
DON’T MAKE US BEG — For S.C.’s sake, fill out your 2010 census form
DeBATTLE — Senator DeMint “is locked in a battle with National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) over the future makeup of the Senate Republican conference. DeMint, the chairman of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, is going toe-to-toe with Cornyn in Senate Republican primaries,” The Hill reports. “‘Every Republican campaigns on being a conservative, but if you look at what we do once we’re in office, most people join the club rather than the country after they get here, particularly in the Senate,’ DeMint said in an interview. … DeMint met Thursday with DeVore, a California assemblyman, who has complained about his inability to set up a meeting with Cornyn. ‘John Cornyn has picked a candidate he thinks can win and I picked one that I believe can not only win the primary but the general [election] and when he gets here, he’s going to help us turn this Congress around,’ said DeMint.”
SCREWED — “The state’s first interstate closure — a looming shock for thousands — begins in about two weeks as lawmakers and highway commissioners say they’re helpless to fix a flawed decision because they weren’t notified of the massive ripple effects until far too late,” according to The Greenville News. “Greenville area legislators said they’re unable to file legislation that would stop or slow the unprecedented work on Interstate 385 with the Legislature out of session, while court action could end up costing millions because of the work’s scope. Legislators suspect the bridge connecting I-385 to Interstate 26 near Clinton could be the first thing to go, marking a point of no return. … Critics of the project, including Sen. Glenn McConnell of Charleston, president pro tem of the Senate, question the entire approach — a dramatic departure from the way the state normally does road work — because they say administrators failed to factor in hidden costs such as the effect of detours in lost time and business and the quality of secondary roads.”
OVERKILL? Proposed texting ban divides Clemson
VIEWPOINT — MOONLIGHTING — The Aiken Standard editorializes, “When a company’s employee seeks a job elsewhere, the worker typically takes a day off with no pay or a vacation day to go on an interview. The business the person is leaving does not pay to have him find a new position. Things don’t work that way in the world of politics. When a sitting elected official decides to run for another office, he or she typically has no qualms about missing his work to go on the campaign trail. And in most cases, that campaign work is done while the politician is drawing full salary for the current position. … [Rep. Gresham] Barrett is not alone in running for governor while serving another post. Superintendent of Education Dr. Jim Rex, Attorney General Henry McMaster and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer are also running for the position as well as other members of the Legislature. That is the way politics operates in the 21st century. Unfortunately, it stinks for constituents who are not getting the most from their elected officials.”
INTERESTING TIMING — “Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is being backed by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in the GOP race for governor.” (The State)
SNUGGIES — “With Christmas approaching, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is continuing his campaign to make sure South Carolina’s seniors are warm for the holidays. Bauer is in Greenville on Tuesday morning to distribute 200 blankets to the needy at Redemption World Outreach Center. Bauer says the blankets were purchased with funds from his Palmetto Tomorrow Foundation.” (AP)
GREENWOOD — Council OK’s budget, tax hike
GREENVILLE — Eastside High grad receives teaching award
CHARLESTON — S.C. Maritime Foundation hires new CEO
SPARTANBURG — Byrnes Rebels help bag supplies for Goodfellows
OCONEE — Sierra Club members lead charge for cleaner water
MYRTLE BEACH — 3 weekend fires on the Grand Strand
FINALLY THIS — A LIVING WITNESS — “Dewitt Jackson now has the medals to prove he is a hero. He also has a living witness by the name of Renato Moncini. Jackson, who fought for a country that placed him, as a black man, beneath German prisoners of war during World War II, was more than a hero to Moncini. He was a savior.” The Greenville News reports that “Moncini was a 10-year-old boy when the Nazis pillaged his hometown of Lucca, Italy. Jackson, now 89, was among the soldiers who gave food from their meager supplies to the starving people of that village, left destitute by Hitler’s war machine. Moncini came to Greenville in 1960 to work for Fluor Daniel. He had no idea, until he saw a newspaper story about Jackson, that one of the soldiers who had helped his family so many years ago also lived in Greenville, only two miles away.”
THAT’S IT FOR THIS MORNING – STAY TUNED ON TWITTER OR FACEBOOK FOR UPDATES THAT JUST CAN’T WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW. HAVE A GOOD ONE!
