South Carolina’s Most Popular Blog Post
Sitting in the Charlotte airport, heading to Tampa, Florida to meet a candidate I’m now working with. It’s pretty early and I’ve tried to write a few memos but all I can think about is the lousy performance by our South Carolina Gamecocks yesterday. In all my years of being a hardcore Gamecock, I’ve never seen our team play such a half-assed game. Even during our 21 game losing streak, our team at least tried. Yesterday was just sorry, earning the Gamecocks a well deserved #FAIL.
I just reread Will Folk’s Power 100 list, which was posted a few days ago. It’s always the most popular SC political post of the year because every one and their mother rushes to the site to see what they were ranked. You can tell that Will puts a lot of effort into the list, and love or hate the guy, you can’t doubt his ability to get a crap ton of web hits. Obviously the most glaring absence from Will’s list is Will himself and seeing that he has never been one to shy away from being cocky, I’m always surprised that he leaves himself off. I agree with about 15% of what Will writes, but there’s little doubt of his influence on the palmetto state political scene and he should be on the list. Probably ranked around #88 (I’m ranked 87. It’s a joke. I know…I’m not very funny at all).
Will made some random comment on WIS a few months back where he said something like “I drive the conversation in South Carolina.” You might think that Will’s line was just another example of his cockiness, and well…it was. But it was also a good bit true. I can tell you from working on the Senate floor that in any given day, at least 10 South Carolina State Senators have fitsnews.com on their monitors. Everyone reads him.
What’s the point in all this about Will?
There are many in South Carolina who claim to ignore him. That’s a mistake. Don’t let him get under your skin, but don’t ignore the guy. The donors read him. The activists read him. All the operatives read him. And chances are that a lot them live in your district. While every voter might not read him, the opinion leaders do, and his message often trickles into the mainstream media where your voters DO read it.
As for the list itself, its half horseshit, but Will doesn’t claim to be fair and he makes his biases very well known. I don’t think people like Neil Mellen should be listed above Trey Walker or Walter Whetsell or John Hazzard. Neil’s a super nice guy but Trey , Walter, and John have more pull in their pinky toes than Neil has in his entire body. I obviously have issue with the negative comments he makes about my clients and colleagues. I don’t think Senators Tom Davis or Mick Mulvaney are more powerful than their likeminded colleagues and Senate Chairmen Greg Ryberg, Larry Grooms, or Danny Verdin. They’re both influential, but the State Senate power structure is based on seniority. Like it or not, that’s the way it is. I also have big issues with a self-professed Libertarian calling Republicans RINOs while concentrating on only one plank of the Republican Party, something I’m constantly harping on.
But guess what? It ain’t my list. It’s Will’s list and he can rank people however he sees fit. He’s a blogger, not a reporter. He doesn’t have to be fair or even right. It’s not like he has an editor breathing over his shoulder. And like me, he’s paid to promote particular messages. Take Will’s blog for what it is, but you better not ignore it, or you will probably end up regretting it.
One last note. There are a few accurate things on the list, like this:
Jeffrey Sewell – Editor, SC Hotline
How the mighty have fallen … once positioned to become the Matt Drudge of South Carolina, Sewell has turned the SC Hotline into an afterthought for a handful of decrepit politicos who haven’t updated their web browser since 1999.