Candidate Wins Primary Without Money, Staff, or Speeches

In South Carolina’s Democratic Senate primary, state legislator Vic Rawl was a sure bet to win.  Mr. Rawl has been in office for four terms, and nobody in the media had ever heard of anyone else on the ballot.  Alvin Greene was one of those “unheard ofs” on the ballot, and he won.  Mr. Greene paid his $10,400 fee to register as a candidate, and says his total campaign, including that fee, cost less than $12,000.  Greene served in the Air Force and the Army, and has been unemployed for the last 9 months (how he paid for his registration fee I have no idea).  He is running on a platform of unemployment, justice, and education, which you can read more about in his very interesting interview.

Greene says his friends (and friend’s friends) are his “staff”, but he has nobody on a payroll.  While he has never printed signs or made a speech, he claims he has walked around and talked to the people of South Carolina over the last few months.

The Democratic Party is asking him to step-down from his candidacy as reports surfaced that he is currently being charged for showing pornography to a female college student.  Despite this (and the fact that his opponent this fall is Senator Jim DeMint), Mr. Greene is pressing forward and trying to raise funds for the battle ahead.  Some Democrats are even speculating that he is a Republican plant, and that somebody had to give him the 10,400 to register as a candidate.

UPDATE: It turns out Mr. Greene was kicked out of the Army 9 months ago.  “I was honorably discharged from the Army, but it was involuntary…Things weren’t working. Same thing happened in the Air Force. . . . It’s a long story in both services,”  he said.  I will let you know if I can find out why.  Here is what we do know about his record according to the Army:

He was discharged in August 2009 after being promoted to specialist.  He served three years as a supply technician, including a tour in South Korea from June 2007 to July 2008. He last served with the 1^st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan.  Greene’s records also show he served in the South Carolina Air National Guard from July 1995 to June 2002, and in the South Carolina Army National Guard from July 2006 to February 2007.  He was an intelligence specialist when he was in the Air Force National Guard, and a supply specialist while he was in the Army.