Charleston Currents – South Carolina

At the Feb. 26 endorsement of Biden in Charleston were (l-r): former Charleston councilman Paul Tinkler, former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, S.C. Sen. Marlon Kimpson, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, Charleston County Auditor Peter Tecklenburg, Biden. | Photo by Adam Schultz / Biden for President

FOCUS: South Carolina played key role in Biden victory

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | It can be argued that without South Carolina, Biden wouldn’t be president-elect.

In February, he won the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina. It was his first big win that preceded a string of wins built on the strong backing of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the Palmetto State’s kingmaker. Clyburn’s endorsement of Biden in late February is widely viewed as the key to Biden’s win here, which was key to securing the nomination.

But much earlier, the late U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, who was chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1972, tapped Biden as the Democrat for Washington senators to support in the Delaware race for U.S. Senate. Then 29, Biden was a county councilman and unknown to many.

“He ended up taking a chance on me,” Biden said in April 2019 at Hollings’ funeral.

by Andy Brack · 11/09/2020 · 1 comment · Focus, Good news

View of a 2016 caucus in Alaska. Via Wikipedia.

BRACK: S.C.’s role in 2020 presidential process is big, really big

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolina will again play an outsized role in picking the next presidential candidates for U.S. voters. It’s where the political rubber hits the road.

In large part, the story is told by the numbers …

by Andy Brack · 01/21/2019 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views

BRACK: State needs to break grip of death spiral on governing

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Over the last 14 years, two South Carolina governors pounded a philosophy on the stump and at the Statehouse that there was little government could do to be good or worthwhile.

This drumbeat against government, a child of Washington think tanks from the 1990s, seeped into South Carolina under Gov. Mark Sanford, who was obsessed against government borrowing to finance long-term needs. Then it found an erstwhile acolyte in his successor, Gov. Nikki Haley, now headed to the national stage. Using the bully pulpit of the governor’s office, they railed against big government, preached a gospel against taxes and proselytized for treating government like a business.

by Andy Brack · 01/23/2017 · 3 comments · Andy Brack, Views

HISTORY: Early S.C. gardens

S.C. Encyclopedia | Both home and commercial gardening were essential to the survival of colonial settlements in South Carolina. Early commercial growing was limited to fruit and vegetable crops grown near towns, and consisted mostly of small plots surrounded by wattle or split rail “worm” fences. Home gardening included mostly food crops that could be pickled or stored dry, as the winter climate was too warm for root cellars. Few vegetables were eaten raw, and being more fibrous than today’s varieties, were usually overcooked. To this day, the term sallet or sallet greens is applied by some rural South Carolinians to greens grown to be cooked: mustard, turnip, and rape, for example.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 08/31/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

BRACK: Promise Zone is shot in arm for S.C.

By Andy Brack | Talk about a shot in the arm for the southern rural counties of South Carolina. Witness the just-announced federal Promise Zone designation for a six-county area centering on Allendale County that should pump in millions of dollars of aid over the next 10 years.

But let’s be clear: It’s a hand-up, not a handout for people in the zone area of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties. There’s a lot of hard work ahead for these counties, nonprofits, government agencies and businesses that are part of the effort to generate more jobs, improve education, reduce crime and get more affordable housing in a region where 28.1 percent of 90,000 residents live in poverty.

by Andy Brack · 05/04/2015 · Comments are Disabled · Andy Brack, Views