The Runoffs

Gervais doesn’t do endorsements. A blogger who does endorsements is like Tae Bo instructor who gives out black belts. Don’t ask me exactly how that simile works, or what year Tae Bo disappeared from the cultural consciousness, just trust me.

I did "Undorsements" a couple years ago, but come on.

So here are “the runoff races I’ll be watching closely” with “commentary indicating how I would vote if I lived in the district” and I wasn’t a “convicted felon”:

Knotts/Shealy: The fireworks stands are opening their awnings, which is good because the 4th of July is coming early this year in Lexington County. In this Senate 23 GOP Primary, candidate Katrina Shealy has ridden a wave of out-of-state voucher cash to land in a runoff with Jake “Light Fuse Get Away” Knotts. Dueling endorsements, dueling TV ads, and in some remote hamlets of Lexington County, dueling banjos. By far the hottest race in the state on Tuesday.

Talley/Bright: Everyone knows the SC Club for Growth shares the same bed with SCRG. The only question is who rolls over whom to press the snooze button in the morning. In this Spartanburg County Senate 12 race, candidate Lee Bright has received abut $15,000 in contributions associated with the Club. Then, the Club’s executive director spent his first few months in SC firing missives at Scott Talley, and blogger Will Folks unearthed a scandal of epic proportions by asserting that on some nights Talley might not have read to his kids. Amazingly, Talley still managed to come out on top in the primary, about 500 votes shy of an outright win.

Herndon/Few: This is a runoff between two former Kershaw County GOP chairs. David Herndon has the endorsement of outgoing House 79 Rep. Bill Cotty. On the other side, voucher candidate Sheri Few has gotten more money from Howard Rich over the last two years than his own wife, but has yet to win an election with all this voucher cash. The winner faces Democrat Anton Gunn in the fall.

Rivers/Brantley: As usual, Jasper County is the epicenter of political upheaval in South Carolina. House 122 Rep. Curtis Brantley is the sole Democrat and the sole member of the Legislative Black Caucus to support vouchers. It’s refreshingly independent, until you realize that 84% of his campaign funding in 2006 was from Howard Rich and other out-of-state voucher donors … then, it doesn’t seem very refreshing at all, and definitely not independent. Former Rep. Thayer Rivers, who was blindsided by all the out-of-state cash last go-round, has forced a runoff with Brantley on Tuesday.

Young/Singer: In this Aiken race for House 81, SCRG sent out mail attacking Tom Young, so he’s probably the best candidate. I really don’t know much about this contest, so I googled “young singer aiken.” I still don’t know much about the race, but that Clay Aiken really has some pipes!

Should make for an interesting Tuesday night.