***Palmetto Morning Presented by Jim Dyke & Associates***
THIS FIRST — 3,600 — The Upstate’s economy is picking up steam, gaining momentum that gives workers and employers hope the depths of the downturn have been reached and better times are ahead. The optimism, however, is cautious. Experts say it will take time to regain lost jobs, especially if sluggish growth continues for the U.S. economy and South Carolina can’t shake loose on its own.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Two “still shoutin’” Rick Bragg and Mick Jagger, and Pirate Alum Sandra Bullock
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NATIONAL LENS — PALMETTO PUZZLE — Just what is it about Alvin Greene? A month and a half after Greene’s out-of-nowhere victory in the South Carolina Democratic Senate primary, the media obsession with his unlikely story is becoming as big a mystery as the circumstances surrounding his curious candidacy. There’s no other marginal candidate this election cycle drawing such attention. And there may be no other example in modern political history of a statewide political hopeful with so little hope of victory, yet so much media attention.
“BELOW AVERAGE” — I’m betting both parties would love to re-start this campaign season and call do-overs on more than a few primaries. Maybe the choices weren’t ideal, but in some very high-stakes races, the candidates who won are showing why they probably shouldn’t have. This phenomenon can be found coast to coast and points in between: Connecticut, South Carolina and Florida, Kentucky, Illinois and California.
BATTLEFRONT — “Why do they hate us?” It’s a burning question on the minds of border-dwelling taxpayers, small-business owners, farmers, and Rocky Mountain oil and gas industry workers suffering under punitive Democrat policies. Eighteen months into the Barack Obama administration, the war on the American West is in full swing. The first battlefront: immigration. “Our federal government should be doing its job to secure our borders rather than trying to bully and intimidate the people of Arizona,” argued Republican amendment sponsor Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina.
NEW CROP — A new crop of Senate candidates is threatening one of the last bastions of unapologetic earmark protection: old-bull senators and lobbyists. More than 15 Senate candidates — ranging from tea party conservatives to liberal Democratic hopefuls — have promised to either forgo pet projects or ban the practice altogether. For some insurgent candidates, promising to end earmarks has become a useful way to blunt opponents’ arguments about their clout in the Senate. “I think almost every Senate candidate [who’s] going to win is going to not ask for earmarks, which means if we don’t have an earmark moratorium in the Senate — at least with Senate Republicans before the election — we will after the election,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
GOING GLOBAL — A Spartanburg-based nonprofit will soon get exposure across the “friendly skies” while being featured in a United Airlines video. Globalbike, which provides bicycles to care workers in developing countries, was asked to participate in the video promoting this year’s Beyond Sport Summit in Chicago. The airline is a sponsor of the summit and the video will be shown on United Airlines flights leading up to the Sept. 29 event.
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2010 WATCH — FIGHTING CHANCE — Will the controversial U.S. Senate candidacy of Democrat Alvin Greene open the door for the Green Party? Tom Clements hopes so. Clements decided to enter the race as a Green Party candidate before he knew who the Democrats would put up to face incumbent Republican Sen. Jim DeMint. “I view it as a Democratic party meltdown and not a meltdown of Alvin Greene,” Clements said. “That’s when the chance for me to secure more of the vote arose.”
SUNDAY PICNIC — Area Democrats expressed optimism Sunday afternoon that gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Vincent Sheheen will reclaim the governor’s mansion for their party for the first time in more than a decade. Sheheen, a second-term state senator from Camden, spoke Sunday afternoon on Hilton Head Island at the annual Picnic in the Park at Jarvis Creek Park hosted by the Democratic Club of Beaufort County South of the Broad.
WEATHER ADVISORY — As another hurricane season approaches for South Carolina, memories of Hugo may be preying on residents of the coast. But concern is also growing for a group of people in Columbia, the officials and employees of the State Emergency Management Division. Within the last 18 months, the agency has lost a third of its staff, according to Derrec Becker, public information director for the agency. “When we look at our ability to respond to a hurricane, we’re having to do a lot more with a lot less,” he told the Associated Press.
LAST CALL — A proposal that would require bars and nightclubs to close at 2 a.m. is moving forward with the Columbia City and Richland County councils. Tuesday, County Council is scheduled to create a committee that will work with city officials to make sure the two governments draft identical ordinances, so as not to create any loopholes between the two jurisdictions.
DEEP ROOTS — Vincent Sheheen’s advisers urged him to move his gubernatorial campaign headquarters to Columbia, but he insisted on staying here. After all, the Kershaw County seat is where his great-grandfather Abraham put down roots 115 years ago. Here, Sheheen can hop in his pickup truck, drop his children at school and arrive at his law office within 10 minutes. He can keep tabs on his extended family and the five chickens in his backyard. And if Sheheen can expand to the rest of the state what he has done here — successfully running as a Democrat in staunchly Republican territory — then he stands a chance to win the state’s top job this fall.
GO TOMORROW — The final leg of the race to become Columbia’s District Two Council member is quickly approaching. On Tuesday, voters will once again return to the poll to decide who will become the newest member of City Council. This marks the sixth time some voters have cast their ballots in various races, including the Mayor’s race and the June Primary.
GREENVILLE — New auto supplier to hire 900 in Upstate
CLOVER — Area designer finds career at L.A. Times
SPARTANBURG — Farmer goes ‘beyond organic’ with co-op produce, meats
CLIO — Wallace’s Crosland to be inducted into SC coaches’ hall
COLUMBIA — Toy soldier show to march into Columbia
ANDREWS — Andrews native joins Peace Corps and brings hope to Eastern European village
SPARTANBURG — New group pushing for a better-educated workforce
HORRY — Shades on the shore may be in jeopardy for Horry County
HILTON HEAD — Dentist catches a 380-pound shark
VIEWPOINT — BLAME GAME — Climate change legislation has been dying in the Senate for months now, but Harry Reid’s decision to finally admit as much — in the midst of an endless East Coast heat wave, no less — has supporters of cap-and-trade casting about for somebody to blame. They’ve blamed the Obama administration, for prioritizing health care reform over an energy bill. They’ve blamed the American people, for being too concerned with economic issues to grapple with longer-term threats. And they’ve blamed figures like Lindsey Graham and John McCain, erstwhile supporters of cap-and-trade who have steadily backpedaled away from it.
VIEWPOINT II — NEXT STEP — OK, now that the venting is over, what is to be done? Republican Congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina, who lost his primary to a Tea Party drone, has a suggestion. On the day of Reid’s pallid announcement, Inglis told utility executives that climate policy needs a messaging makeover – stop dwelling in the weeds of cap-and-trade, offsets, and other wonkery that is chiefly of interest to economics PhD’s. That doesn’t sell. Instead, sell carbon pricing as a market-based solution for stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship.
VIEWPOINT III — HAPPY NEW YEARS — With the federal deficit now conservatively projected to reach $1.4 trillion for 2011 and to exceed $700 billion annually for the next decade, President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress favor historic tax increases as the remedy. So, unless Obama and Congress reverse their declared course and approve new legislation to extend the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, they will expire on Jan. 1, 2011.
FINALLY THIS — HAPPY WHEELS — Each week, Tracey Rankin and a team of volunteers push a cart of colorful new toys and books through the hallways of Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital in the hopes of bringing more smiles. Since December, Rankin has operated Happy Wheels, providing gifts to children battling a range of illnesses at the hospital. The Lexington resident, who serves as the program’s director, said her intention was to change her “tiny corner of the world.”
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