A Stepford Candidate?
As far as I know, South Carolina State Senator Larry Grooms is a good guy. A recognized and undisputed conservative, Grooms is in the race for Governor in 2010.
But Larry Grooms may be the Stepford Candidate.
The South Carolina political consultancy Richard Quinn and Associates has two candidates running for governor: Grooms and Attorney General Henry McMaster.
The pivot in this dance appears to be Quinn employee Chris Sullivan. Sullivan is an editor of Richard Quinn’s “Southern Partisan” magazine and sources tell me he is “running Larry Grooms.”
So what?
Well, Larry Grooms and Lexington State Representative (and rival gubernatorial candidate) Nikki Haley have similar conservative credentials and appeal to pretty much the same electorate. McMaster represents the RINO General Assembly leadership status quo – a concession wholly-owned by Richard Quinn and Associates. Quinn Coincidence Number 1.
Quinn/McMaster have written off S.C. Representative Gresham Barrett in the race (as have many others) after the Congressman took a major hit at a tax rally in the spring. Interestingly, it was the folks at the Quinn-owned website/blog Palmetto Scoop that were conveniently on site to capture the the whole ugly mess on video – a video that went viral nationally. Quinn Coincidence Number 2.
In June, the blog Wolfe Reports noted that the Quinn-run McMaster campaign was targeting competitor Lt. Governor Andre Bauer. Earlier this week, a personal attack on Bauer was launched. Quinn Coincidence Number 3.
Quinn/McMaster don’t want to face Nikki Haley alone in next year’s primary and/or runoff. In that scenario, not only will she rack up conservative voters, but crossovers as well. So, Quinn/Grooms becomes the leak in Haley’s bucket and while he and Haley battle it out for the conservative votes in primary, McMaster can stand back from the combat with the “establishment” votes in his peach basket.
Now, I have no reason to believe Sen.Grooms is complicit in such a scheme. As far as I know, he’s sincere about serving the state as governor. I’m told, though, that he is not giving up his seat in the state Senate to run for chief executive -suggesting he’s not convinced he will win.
Nikki Haley will be on only one ballot in 2010 – for governor – as she is not filing for re-election to her House seat.
So, is the Quinn group running a campaign of attrition to tilt the scales in McMasters’ favor?
Barrett? Check
Bauer? Check
Grooms? Check
Oh, and Furman professor Dr. Brent Nelsen dropped his bid for governor in July and is now, instead, running for Superintendent of Education.
Quinn Coincidence Number 4?
Thanks for digging that up! Great job!!
I’ve previously observed that that Grooms would only hurt Haley by his presence in the race but I had no idea of the “favorite son” aspect revealed by this Quinn & Associates connection.
IMHO, Grooms won’t make it to the primary anyway so I don’t think Quinn will be successful in sabotaging Haley.
If such trouble is gone to in the pursuit of defeating Haley, she must be a force to be reckoned with.
Nikki Haley must be scaring the devil out of the establishment. She’s the only one who will fight from the position of being one of the regular folks in this state who work hard and get abused at every opportunity by the political elite in this state.
She’s the only responsible candidate that will look after our interests for a change. She’s always been up front and honest when dealing with my questions and concerns.
I am not a close personal friend of hers and have only met her a handful of times in person. However, from my frequent communications with her as my representative, I get a very good gut feeling that she’s one of us and will continue to fight the quid pro quo “games” played by the crooks in the General Assembly.
Nikki Haley has always been open-minded and supportive of reform legislation. She has, of course, a very public record of reform accomplishments and goals already.
I think she will tell the truth and work hard, treating the office as a real JOB instead of a promotion or reward for being a career politician as McMastah has.
Nikki Haley’s goals are reform and bringing the power back to the people of this state and she will do that or go down fighting as an ACTIVE governor rather than be reactionary. (Sanford has talked a good talk but has been tremendously lazy–not to mention his frequent vacationing in Aregentina.)
Nikki Haley has a grass roots appeal that McMastah can only dream of. Her concern is genuine and obviously so. McMastah, on the other hand, is as phony as a three-dollar bill.
So are you saying that Nelsen is a “Stepford Candidate” too? What did you mean by the last sentence?
Just noting the coincidence of his departure from the race for governor. If he “saw the light” about his chances, who was shining that light?
I don’t think anyone needed to shine a light to Nelsen that he would not get anywhere. He is much more at home as a Supt. of Ed. candidate, and it shows. Good move. This is all very interesting, but what is in it for Grooms for being the good soldier? A key job in the Senate? Money? Larry is the one candidate who is saying we need to do A,B and C to improve our economy. I’d hate to think he’s running without the intention of winning.
McMaster will have to pull a rabbit out of his hat to win votes from some of us in the Upstate.
Shortly after being elected AG, he came to our county where he assured us that it was his business, and he was very busy, putting criminals behind bars. We explained that our jail is over-crowded and we needed relief from state mandates. We explained that a large part of the detainees were non-violent family court offenders.
McMaster’s suggestion: “If you don’t have room in jail, chain them to a tree on Main Street.”
Why would Grooms resign his senate seat to run for Governor? NOBODY does that, ever. Haley can’t run for her house seat and Governor at the same time.
DUH !!
I think it’s a sign of confidence and focus. She’s got a heck of a lot going for her and she’s gotta know that her record stands head and shoulders over the do-nothing good ol’ boy blowhards also running.
Nikki has no intention of being a career politician. That’s one reason she doesn’t need the “security” of a seat to return to. She just doesn’t have the mental attitude of the career crooks that make up the opposition.
I’ve asked her if she’d run for U.S. Senator after a couple of terms as governor and she made it plain that after being governor, that was all the time she wanted to spend in office but would afterward work to get good reform candidates elected her in S.C. You have to respect her for that. IMHO, she demonstrates that she’s very much one of us with that attitude towards government.