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SC Dem. Party Chair Estimates Dem. Presidential Hopefuls Will Spend $30 million In SC By Jan. 2008 Primary During Interview On ETV Radio's "The Big Picture on the Radio"
For Immediate Release
April 6, 2007
Columbia, SC... During an interview on Friday with ETV news and public affair's Managing Editor and Host Andrew Gobeil, on "The Big Picture on the Radio," Joe Erwin, outgoing party chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party, predicted that by the time the Democratic primary comes around in the Palmetto State, his party's presidential wannabes will have enriched South Carolina's coffers to the tune of $30 million.
"The primary and the associated debate that we are going to hold April the 26th...as an economic driver...will be worth $30 million to South Carolina," Erwin said. He explained that he arrived at the figure by tallying a wide array of expenditures.
"That (the $30 million) comes from their media buying, it comes from them purchasing the voter file that we have so that they know the previous voters in the primary-who to contact, we sell that for $65,000 and it's the only way they can get the records of who those people are that voted in our previous primary, and really even going back beyond that. Also they buy media schedules, direct mail. They are hiring staff, you're probably hearing now about a lot of people that are joining Barack's staff, or Biden's staff, or Dodd's staff. They are hiring a lot of South Carolinians, and that's good for our economy."
In still other news, Erwin commented on Congressman Jim Clyburn's (D-SC) upcoming historic address to the South Carolina legislature: "Jim Clyburn will do a great, not a good, he'll do a great job-and it's going to be very important, I think, that he convey his vision and hope for both South Carolina and for the nation to our legislators of both parties."
Gobeil's other guests on the program, which airs statewide on ETV Radio news stations Fridays from 9-10 a.m., were CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley and PBS' Judy Woodruff who is senior correspondent on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
Crowley said she believes that all of the jockeying going on among states, with some of the biggest ones-i.e. California-now choosing an earlier primary date, hasn't diminished the prominence of the role South Carolina plays in the process. "I think, in fact, it increases it," said Crowley. "The fact of the matter is that South Carolina has always been important for its diversity...It gives you a microcosm."
Woodruff addressed the importance of the almighty dollar in the campaign. "Money is the first primary that many of these candidates, all of these candidates, have to succeed in," she said.
The Big Picture on the Radio can be heard Fridays at 9 a.m. on ETV Radio's four news formats: 88.1-WRJA Sumter, 89.1-WLJK Aiken, 89.9- WJWJ Beaufort, and 90.1-WHMC Conway. The program can also be streamed from www.myetv.org.
The Big Picture can be seen on ETV Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., with encore presentations on Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m.
STREAM AN ARCHIVED COPY OF THE PROGRAM
For more information, contact Catherine Christman at 803-737-3259 or christman@scetv.org.
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