TheSunNews.com: Politics

The Buzz | West Virginia scores again

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:01 EST

West Virginia scores again

It was “bash Clemson day” at the Statehouse Tuesday.

It started in the morning at the State Budget and Control Board when an item came up about Clemson University leasing one of its buildings. That’s when state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom looked at Gov. Nikki Haley, a Clemson graduate, and said:

Amazon tab for tax break: $156,000

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:01 EST

Online retailer Amazon spent just more than $156,000 – mostly for lobbyists – in winning a sales tax collection exemption from the Legislature last year over the opposition of other merchants.

Its six lobbyists were paid nearly $137,000 in a battle whose outcome will bring 2,000 jobs to the Midlands by the end of 2013, according to reports available Wednesday. The remainder was for office expenses.

An alliance of national and local retailers who fought the tax break reported spending nearly $253,000 on lobbyists for a variety of matters. Amounts related to the Amazon battle – their main focus – don’t have to be specified, but company officials say the tab is larger than usual.

Romney cruising toward solid win in Nevada

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:03 EST

Republicans in Nevada are poised to do what no one has yet done in the 2012 Republican presidential campaign – sustain momentum.

Their caucuses on Saturday are likely to deliver a solid victory to Mitt Romney. That would mark the first time this year that a presidential candidate has won two states in a row. After taking Florida on Tuesday by a wide margin, a decisive Nevada win would send Romney rushing into February with wins in three out of the first five voting states and a commanding lead toward winning the Republican presidential nomination.

He still has to defeat former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Negative campaign ads not going anywhere soon

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:33 EST

The 2012 Republican presidential campaign is ugly and likely to get uglier, because going negative works.

Mitt Romney and his backers bombarded Florida’s airwaves over the last 10 days with searing ads that questioned Newt Gingrich’s ethics and his work for mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Exit polls found that huge numbers of voters called the advertisements important to their decisions. They broke heavily for Romney, who crushed Gingrich in Tuesday’s primary.

The negative barrage, experts said, is a preview of what’s coming for November’s general election.

Campaign finance reports trickle in for 7th Congressional District race

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:46 EST

Former lieutenant governor Andre Bauer hasn’t officially announced his candidacy for the 7th Congressional District seat, but financial reports show his campaign has the highest total of funds of the 14 candidates.

However, a closer look shows Horry County Council Chairman Tom Rice has raised the most in actual campaign contributions.

Tuesday was the filing deadline for 2011 year-end financial statements. According to the report he filed with the Federal Elections Commission, Bauer’s campaign funds are just under $302,000 for the fourth quarter in 2011. That figure includes a $150,000 personal loan the Republican candidate took out.

Gingrich slams Romney over Florida ‘carpet-bombing’

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:51 EST

Newt Gingrich slammed GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney for “carpet-bombing” his record ahead of Tuesday’s presidential primary in Florida, trying to cut into the resurgent front-runner’s lead in the final 48 hours before the vote.

On the defensive after barrage of attacks from Romney and a political committee that supports him, Gingrich said Romney had lied and the GOP establishment had allowed it.

“I don’t know how you debate a person with civility if they’re prepared to say things that are just plain factually false,” Gingrich said during appearances on Sunday talk shows. “I think the Republican establishment believes it’s OK to say and do virtually anything to stop a genuine insurgency from winning because they are very afraid of losing control of the old order.”

Myrtle Beach area family still seeks answers in son’s death

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:47 EST

Clothes, movies, shoes, games, books and Bibles are spread across Danielle and Eric Eiler’s living room couch and table.

The items are among the personal effects of the couple’s 23-year-old son, Travis, which were shipped in seven packages to their Myrtle Beach area home last month.

And while they may finally have some of his belongings, they are no closer to learning what caused his Dec. 2 death in central Asia, where he’d been working with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Women’s firm key to Gingrich’s victory

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:45 EST

The biggest winners in last weekend’s S.C. Republican primary may have been Leslie Gaines and Ruth Sherlock.

Prior to last Saturday, Gaines and Sherlock had spent the better part of their time at their fledgling political consulting company running themselves ragged – fundraising for this candidate, marketing for that one, scheduling for a third.

“We decided to hit reset,” Gaines said, co-owner of the Greenville-based Sherlock & Gaines Consulting Group.

Romney would rank among richest presidents ever

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:42 EST

Just how rich is Mitt Romney? Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you're in Romney territory.

He would be among the richest presidents in American history if elected – probably in the top four.

He couldn't top George Washington who, with nearly 60,000 acres and more than 300 slaves, is considered the big daddy of presidential wealth. After that, it gets complicated, depending how you rate Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Herbert Hoover's millions from mining or John F. Kennedy's share of the vast family fortune, as well as the finer points of factors like inflation adjustment.

Former Horry County Council chairman seeks 7th Congressional seat

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:52 EST

Another candidate officially entered the race Wednesday for the newly created 7th Congressional District seat.

Former Horry County Council chairman Chad Prosser announced his intent to run as a Republican candidate, according to a press release.

Prosser served on the County Council for more than eight years. In 2002, he was re-elected to a consecutive term as chairman, the release stated. When Mark Sanford was elected governor, he appointed Prosser director of the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, a position he held for eight years.

Busy day for polls up and down the Grand Strand

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:41 EST

At the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire District Station 2, Tom McDowell of Garden City Beach readied to walk in to cast his vote for former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The retired police officer said the questioning posed to Gingrich by John King to start the CNN debate on Thursday had “nothing to do with” framing his choice for the primary.

“He talks like he knows what’s going on,” McDowell said of Gingrich. “I can tell he knows what he’s talking about.”

SC GOP voters focused on economy, beating Obama

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:53 EST

WASHINGTON (AP) – Early results of exit polls in South Carolina show that for most voters, the economy was the top issue when picking a Republican presidential candidate.

Around a third of them said Saturday that someone in their household has been laid off in the last three years.

The preliminary data also show that when it comes to the qualities of their candidate, nearly half want someone who can defeat President Barack Obama in this fall's elections.

SC verdict: Romney, Gingrich face off in primary

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:29 EST

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich collided Saturday in the South Carolina primary, the first Southern testing ground in the race for the Republican presidential nomination and historically a harbinger of the final outcome.

Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul rounded out the field in a campaign defined by its unpredictability.

There were 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake, but political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to President Barack Obama still in its early stages.

Voter turnout along Grand Strand expected to surpass 2008 GOP primary

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:41 EST

With about 15 minutes to go before the polls close, Grand Strand election officials are expecting voter turnout to surpass the roughly 20 percent of residents who cast ballots in the 2008 Republican presidential primary.

“It’s been really high in certain areas, and really low in others,” said Donna Mahn, with Georgetown County Voter Registration.

Once the numbers come in, Mahn expects them to beat the 6,000 voters out of 41,000 who were registered to vote in 2008.

Result prompts fresh doubts about contest

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:41 EST

For Mitt Romney, the South Carolina primary was not just a defeat, though it was most emphatically that. It was where his campaign confronted the prospect it had most hoped to avoid: a lone, surging and energized rival.

The rebirth of Newt Gingrich, a notion that seemed far-fetched only weeks ago, back in Iowa, has upended a litany of assumptions about this turbulent race. It wounds Romney, particularly given his stinging margin of defeat here on Saturday, and raises the likelihood that the Republican contest could stretch well into the springtime.

Republican voters, after delivering three different winners in the first three stops in the nominating contest, are in no rush to settle on their nominee.

Where to vote | Horry County

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:17 EST

Locations of polling places:

• Adrian | Academy of Tech and Academics, 5639 U.S. 701 N., Conway 29526

• Allsbrook | Cane Branch Baptist Church, 760 Cane Branch Road, Loris 29569

Voting ABCs for Saturday’s GOP Primary

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:17 EST

Voting ABCs

When | Saturday

Hours | 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.

The Buzz | National media’s love affair with Haley waning?

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:41 EST

National media’s love affair with Haley waning?

The bloom is off the rose apparently.

Or maybe it’s several roses.

Where to vote | Georgetown County

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:17 EST

101 | Andrews National Guard Armory, 401 W. Main S.t, Andrews

102 | Andrews, Outside National Guard Armory, 401 W. Main St., Andrews

103 | Bethel, Fire / EMS Station # 5, 303 Georgetown Hwy., Georgetown

Paul vows to fight on after S.C.

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:17 EST

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH Ron Paul vowed Friday that his fight will go on, despite what happens in today’s Republican primary vote.

“Tomorrow is a very important day,” he told 100-150 supporters at Grand Strand Airport in North Myrtle Beach, “but not the end of the campaign.”

Paul, the Texas congressman and Republican presidential contender, was running behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in his bid for the heart of the Palmetto State. But supporters – at least some of whom said they only learned of his Friday appearance hours earlier – cheered him and waved campaign signs as he mounted a stage inside the hangar at Ramp 66.