THE OTHER SHOE WILL DROP

Anyone who has kept up with Berkeley County politics knows just how ordinary our campaigns are. We have had boring campaigns and we have had dirty campaigns. Candidates have misrepresented themselves to the voters. Candidates have told outright lies about their opponents. We have had popular candidates lose and we have had literal "nobodies" come out of nowhere and win. Everyone remembers the Rozier/Moody race where flyers containing the most outrageously scandalous stories mysteriously appeared in mailboxes all over the county. And, who will ever forget the race for Clerk of Court where Cindy Widner had been campaigning for almost a year and was polling even with the incumbent, only to have Charlie Young jump into the race at the last possible moment as a spoiler. We all saw how that turned out.

So, all in all, our campaigns are fairly normal, awash with lies, dirty tricks, back stabbing, and ankle biting.

In comparison, the race for Supervisor this year, has a strange twist. The race started almost a year ago with the first challenger, School Board member Terry Hardesty, declaring his intention to run and organizing a formal campaign. Soon thereafter, the Mayor of Hanahan, Minnie Blackwell threw her hat into the ring. About a month or so ago, Gene Woods, another flea market guy announced his candidacy. All this time, the incumbent, Dan Davis had not formally stated whether he would run again or not. To date, Mr. Davis has not made an "in the newspaper" announcement of his intentions.

Here's where things get a little weird. Some weeks back, Rep. Henry Brown, (District I) announced he would not be running for reelection to the House. He said, after so many years of public service, he needed to retire and spend more time on his farm. Then, last Saturday, he announced he would be running for Supervisor of Berkeley County.

Prior to this announcement, an informal poll showed one would need a pair of ID calipers to measure Mr. Davis' approval numbers. Increased taxes, increased water fees, dubious water projects, etc. have eroded much of his support. Mrs. Blackwell's numbers appeared comparably dismal. When Mr. Woods name was mentioned, the first reaction was, "For Pete's sake, not another flea market guy". If this polling proves to be accurate, this would leave only one viable candidate.

To political observers, this move on the part of Brown makes little sense, on the surface. Henry Brown and Dan Davis were good old boy buddies. The men who allegedly recruited Henry to run, literally despise Dan Davis and want him out. Then comes the wild card to confuse the issue further. Both Dan Davis and Henry Brown listed Rod Shealy as campaign advisor during their last campaigns.

Combining all this information, we are left with a couple of viable possibilities. Either the threat of Henry entering the race is being used to scare off the challengers or Henry will actually file and then the other shoe will drop. From what we know, our vote goes to the other shoe.