You know, when you spend the whole day in meetings and don’t even have time to check Twitter, stuff can happen.
Such as Dwight Drake pulling out of the election for governor:
Today I am announcing that I am withdrawing from the campaign for South Carolina Governor.
I got into this race because I believed that South Carolina’s families deserved much more than they were getting from their Governor. We are facing the toughest times in a generation, and we can only take that on with dedicated, experienced leadership that is focused on putting our people back to work and building a better future for our kids. I have ambitious ideas for getting our state back on track, and I have the knowledge and experience to put those ideas into action.
But a statewide campaign for office is not just about these things. It also requires resources – campaign dollars to run in a competitive primary and in a competitive general election.
I am deeply grateful for – and humbled by – the support I have received from my fellow South Carolinians in the seven months since I began my campaign. As I have put pen to paper in recent days, it’s become clear to me that I am not going to be able to marshal the resources needed to run the competitive, substantive campaign that I set out to run.
I have spent most of my life working to make South Carolina a better place to live, work, and raise a family, and I have done that without ever holding elective office. So, while I withdraw from this race for Governor, I will not withdraw from my commitment to our state.
I have been blessed and honored by my experience in this campaign – most especially by the good, hard-working people all over our state that I have met and talked with. Now is the time when South Carolina needs its strongest leaders, both inside and outside of government, to do the hard work of rebuilding our economy and setting things right. I intend to do just that.
Thank you,
So, what does it all mean, Mr. Natural? Well, I see that Vincent Sheheen — who had been pretty aggressive in defining Dwight as a big-time lobbyist who Was Part Of The Problem — was quick to court the Drake camp’s support, which is the smart thing to do apart from the fact that it’s also the civil thing:
SENATOR SHEHEEN’S STATEMENT ON DWIGHT DRAKE’S DEPARTURE FROM RACE
State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, Democratic candidate for governor, released the following statement in response to the news that Dwight Drake would be withdrawing from the gubernatorial primary:Dwight has been a formidable opponent whose smarts, expertise, and vast knowledge of South Carolina government brought great perspective and ideas to the table in this race. I respect his service to our country in Vietnam, his service to our state as an advisor to Governor Riley, and I look forward to working with him to tackle the many challenges facing South Carolina right now.
Every day new people across South Carolina are joining our effort to get our state moving in the right direction. We’re laying the groundwork of a winning campaign, and as your next governor, I will make it my mission to help restore hope for all of the people of South Carolina by recruiting well-paying jobs, improving our schools, and working with you to make South Carolina a better place to live.
# # #
Gut check: At this point, I’m starting to see Vincent as the likely Democratic nominee. Jim Rex will have something to say about that, to the best of his ability, but at the moment Vincent seems to have the Mo. (Note that Dwight had raised more money than Jim, but, savvy guy that he is, apparently decided it wasn’t enough.) We’ll see though, won’t we?
Dwight will be missed because he seemed determined to have fun with this thing. But we’ll just have to have all the fun we can with the candidates that remain.
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Kathryn Fenner just said, via e-mail:
To which I responded:
I hear great things about Vince from people I admire, and given that he was just one of the pack o’legislators and not the only Democrat elected to a constitutional office ( Jim Rex, if I am right on that distinction), his showing so far is impressive.
Meanwhile, the Sheheen campaign has also put this out today (before the Drake announcement):
My first thought when I see that is, “Dick Riley?” But I’m pretty sure he wants to stay out of the primary. (Although now that his partner Dwight is out of it…?) So who? Joe Erwin?
Lindsey Graham
Now that would be pretty cool, but that ain’t happening.
Is the fact that it’s the YWCA, rather than the YMCA, significant? Is that supposed to tell us something? In which case… former congresswoman Liz Patterson?…
Obviously, I just don’t have the slightest freaking idea…