How would the OBHC Old Head Ball Coach do in a race against James Clyburn? Clyburn has been the Congressman for the 6th district since 1992. Republicans have no chance of ever winning the 6th because of the way the district was drawn up in 1990. It's like 70% democrats. But what if Steve Spurrier ran as an independent? Plenty of name recognition, and plenty of cash means he would probably do pretty well. He might even win! American's are starving for political outsiders.
According to every poll the past 5 months Independent Bernie Sanders has been crushing both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Somewhere between 10 and 15% is Sanders lead! I believe the reason is that most Americans feel that the 2 party system has failed them. Rather than each party working to keep the other party honest, they have joined forces and are teamed up against us. Incumbents usually have a 95% or higher success rate in reelections. In 2010 it dropped to 85%. That ties 1970 as the worst rate ever. It's shaping up to be a blood bath again this year.
The number one reason given by Trump supporters in the early primary states as to why they voted for him was "He's his own man who can't be corrupted by the political machine". Republicans didn't want a Republican. They wanted an outsider to blow the whole corrupt system up! Some of those voters are now having buyers remorse as more of Trump's political past is being revealed.
The Hillary supporters have always been party loyalists, but it was the black vote she needed to win. Her campaign openly spoke of the "Southern Wall" strategy. She just needed to look competitive in NH and Iowa and once it got to SC the black vote would save her. The black community has voted over 90% for Democrats since the 1960's when the Kennedy's catered their vote through a partnership with Martin Luther King. The Democrat party has fully supported Hillary Clinton in this primary, so being loyal to the party, meant voting for Clinton. However the whiter the state, the bigger the victory for Sanders. Now that we've had a good 5 months of battling, the black vote is shifting inside the party to Sanders as well.
If Americans voted today, most prefer anyone but these 2. A poll last week showed 65% of respondents are at least somewhat, pretty or very willing to support a candidate for President who is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. We have never seen polling like this against the 2 major parties. And that explains why a 74 year old Senator from the most liberal state in America is now polling better than the 2 presumptive nominees.
This is a moment where everything can change. The hunger is real for non politicians to run for all kinds of offices. The problem of course is money. Just to get on most ballots costs loads. To run for President in SC as an independent it's 20 grand. The rest of the filing fees for Senators and such are here. Most are over $5000. Then you have to quit your job and go around the state or district trying to win votes or donations so you can pay to be out on the road. You need to hire PR people, and lawyers and schedulers. That's why candidates run for a party. You just need to win a few folks over who control the purse strings and then they say run and front the cash for all of it. Plus they have a team of experts already in place at your disposal. But if you don't line up with them on certain votes, they find a candidate to primary you the next time, and take your seat. It's a vicious cycle!
I'm happy to see the voters didn't look at Trump's wealth as a reason to not trust him. Because I think we're going to need more people from the top 1 or 2% to get involved. His slogan was great. It's what we all hope for. That the best and brightest minds would set aside their personal ambition to help make America great. George Washington and our forefathers did it. It's what we think of when we say 'public service'. It's supposed to be a burden to the person doing it! They sacrifice for the good country. We shouldn't need term limits on public office for the same reason we don't need term limits on jury duty.
I'd be interested in seeing some wealthy South Carolinian's like Darla Moore, Robert McNair or yes even Steve Spurrier take a shot at office. I don't know their politics, but they could vote their conscious without fear of being primaried, because they don't care. They're smart people who want to do the right thing and not worried about the machine taking their seat. If it can work for a 74 year old Socialist...