For an election more than two years away, the South Carolina governor’s race is really underway now 

You don’t yet see the fancy commercials, yard signs, bumper stickers, cantankerous news stories and other trappings of campaigns.  Too much is going on still with the 2008 elections.

But if you think about what you read and see, it’s pretty clear some real gubernatorial politickin’ is going on.

On the Republican side, Attorney General Henry McMaster is making media splashes with his proposal for a new middle court that would end parole and cause convicts to serve up to 85 percent of what they’re sentenced.  McMaster, who has made no bones about it that he’s interested in the state’s top elected job, this week even presented $50,000 in funds from a legal settlement with a pharmaceutical benefits management company to a free health clinic in Seneca.  An attorney general giving away money for a health project?  Good politics for 2010.

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, who told Statehouse Report a couple of weeks ago that he thought he’d make a great governor, has been spotted all over the state this summer talking about the issue that he’s seized on like a pit bull - - working to improve the lot of the state’s elderly population.  And there he was again on national TV talking about how he would subsidize the manufacture of a state “I Believe” license plate.  A politician working this hard for attention in the heat of July?  Good politics for 2010.

 And a possible third Republican candidate - - U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett of Westminster (which is real near where McMaster presented that big check) - - has been making political rounds across the state over the last few months.  More recently, he’s been a vocal proponent for allowing more offshore oil drilling to boost domestic oil production capacity.  Someone talking about a proposal to lower gas prices that hover at the once unthinkable price of $4 a gallon?  Good politics for 2010.

The race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in South Carolina may not be as visible, but the undercurrent of possibility is not hard to spot:

Former S.C. Democratic Party chair Joe Erwin, a Greenville advertising executive, has been making political hay with several projects. 

Earlier this year, he brought together a bunch of smart people in Greenville with his Food for Thought nonprofit conference to explore innovative ideas that might work in South Carolina.  His political action committee, Citizens United for South Carolina, is working in this cycle (translation – it’d building up early chits with folks who are potential political lieutenants).  And then there’s his educational nonprofit, the S.C. Enterprise for Excellence, that is exploring ideas for education.  A political leader working on fresh ideas for the state (jobs) and education now?  Good politics for 2010.

And then there’s state Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, who recently returned from more than a year of duty with the S.C. National Guard in Afghanistan.  He’s got a great story to tell about his experience overseas, which he’s already done with members of about a dozen Rotary clubs throughout the Midlands.  A war veteran talking to crowds of people outside his district some two years away from an election?  Good politics for 2010.

Certainly there are other potential gubernatorial candidates out there - - former GOP House Speaker and now Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins and former Democratic state Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum to name just two - - but to have five people on the stump some 27 months before the election speaks volumes about how competitive the 2010 race will be to replace lame duck Gov. Mark Sanford.
Hold on to your hats.  The soundbites, proposals, back-stabbing and caterwauling are about to reach new levels, particularly after the first Tuesday in November when the country elects a new president.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."