Democrats Angered by SC Primary Results

(Columbia, South Carolina) Democrats are scratching their heads in the Palmetto State.

With befuddled, angry and embarrassed Democratic Party officials saying they are powerless to intervene, state election officials will meet today to certify Alvin Greene’s surprising win in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary for the U.S. Senate.

Greene, a 32-year-old unemployed military veteran who did little if any campaigning but easily beat a far better-funded primary opponent, faces a felony obscenity charge. That charge alleges Greene showed a University of South Carolina student pornography in a computer lab and suggested they go to her room.

Greene’s victory and pending felony charge left Democrats wondering how an unknown with serious legal baggage could be their U.S. Senate nominee. Several expressed concern Greene’s primary win will become another moment of national embarrassment for a state that has been much-mocked because of a series of political scandals.

“We find ourselves in an interesting spot, a spot only South Carolina can find itself in,” said state Rep. Bakari Sellers, D-Bamberg.

On Wednesday, when news of Greene’s felony charge broke, state Democratic Party chairwoman Carol Fowler asked Greene to abandon his quest to challenge U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-Greenville, this fall.

The issue likely won't die quickly.