Alvin Greene set to make first public address
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/06/10/art.greene.scdp.jpg caption ="Greene will deliver his first public address Sunday."]Washington (CNN) – What will he say? How will he carry himself? Will he look like a credible candidate? Those are just some of the questions Democratic activists and political observers are asking ahead of Democrat Alvin Greene ‘s first major public speech as a Senate candidate.
On Sunday afternoon before an estimated crowd of 500 at a local junior high school in his hometown of Manning, Greene will talk about his campaign vision as he mounts his unlikely campaign against Republican incumbent Sen. Jim DeMint.
"I told them I would talk about jobs, education and justice,” said Greene, adding that those issues are at the core of his campaign.
Greene's victory in the June 8 primary shocked many political observers since Greene had not actively campaigned for the nomination, and he had no prior political experience.
Since then, his candidacy has only been met with more amazement, curiosity, and downright confusion.
First, how did the novice candidate actually capture the primary win last month against a seasoned state politician? Second, how did he as an unemployed veteran afford the $10,400 filing fee required to enter the campaign?
Greene has said the funds came from savings accumulated while serving in the military, an answer that has satisfied few state Democrats.
He has also been bombarded with interview requests since his victory and his performance during some of those sessions has called into question his fitness to be a Senate candidate.
"This is a serious campaign to get South Carolina and America back to work and to bring South Carolina and America back," Greene told CNN in an interview last month.
Questions also swirled amid revelations that he was charged with showing pornographic images to a University of South Carolina student last year.
In several interviews, including one with CNN, he has refused to talk about the incident. He has not entered a plea in that case and has previously told CNN he is innocent until proven guilty. At the time, he said he could not afford a lawyer - another move that prompted questions about where the funds for the filing fee came from.
After an investigation, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division cleared Greene of any wrongdoing concerning that issue.
"SLED has concluded that there is no evidence of wrongdoing, criminal intent or deception to the court when Greene applied for a public defender last year," the agency said in a statement.
"During the course of the investigation, SLED determined that monies spent for Greene's filing fee were the candidate's personal funds and therefore no laws were violated in association with Greene's payment to the South Carolina Democratic Party," SLED also said.
Greene is thought to stand little chance in November against Sen. Jim DeMint, the incumbent Republican who has $3.5 million in his campaign account.
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You have my vote..GO ALVIN GREENE...Work for the people & they'll keep you..
Wonder what the Rep Party of SC has told him to say?
Or is Greene on auto pilot and all they need do is keep their financial assistance vote steering secret?
I'm glad I am not a resident of South Carolina. This entire thing with Mr. Greene is an embarassment to the Democratic Party and the State of South Carolina. I will admit, however, that Mr. Greene doesn't appear to be much different than sitting Senators. Like sitting Senators, he does meet the definition of a politician as we can tell he is lying because his lips are moving.
If Republicans are behind this venture for the purpose of embarassing the Democratic Party and assuring a DeMint win in November, it would be ironic how it backfired on them if Mr. Greene were to win the election in November. OMG. It would be horribly embarassing then to be a Republican anywhere.
The speech should go ok. If he is a liberal then he seems to be alot smarter than most liberals.
This should be a comedy central special with live action figures of Alvin Green along with balloon powered cars and rubber band airplanes its hard to imagine that the democrats are allowing this man to continue to undermine the democratic intelligence .
It would be so funny if Greene won. Think about it. The republicans probably financed him thinking they would have an easy win. They also rally around the "common folk" like palen. You can't get any more common than this guy. And best of all he's not a lawyer.
When I first heard about Alvin Greene, I must admit I was miffed at the ignorance of the voters, voting because the name sounds good. However, I have 'conditionally' changed my mind, so long as this he remains mentally uncorrupted by Party Ideologies and corporate influence. He should treat this opportunity as his one chance of a lifetime. Think about it, he is just like the majority of us, sure he has a few minor "no-no's" in his life, but who among us hasn't? One cannot label him as "liberal" and/or "conservative", maybe, just maybe he can legislate according to what's in the best interests of his constituents. It is possible that we need 1/3 of congress, both the house and senate, with common ordinary folks, who are just like the majority of us Americans. I say this conditionally, keep your head screwed on straight Mr. Greene. Don't let us down.
OH BOY!!! I can hardly wait to see lips flapping in the wind saying nothing but jibberash. He is an asset to Obama.
He will do a better job then those who tax and spend, and I hope he wins..we need more who live on the street then ones who don't give a flip about Joe Blow on the unemployment line..
Yeah because all Obama's economic plans to date has been soooo darn helpful to the economy!
The stimulus that was suppose to fix the economy, in Obama's own words, (remember that?), only allowed states and local govt. to bankroll their deficit spending. So I guess the GOP should just let him continue with his stupid, inept policies? Face it Obama does not know what he is doing. His policies thus far have not helped the economy, it has made it worse!
Say all the spin u want – such as "if we did not pass the stimulus we would have a depression" crap all day, but this president is the most incompetent moron! Obama and his admin are clueless!
Jim Demented has spent $3.5 million of rich, fat republicans' money. Mr. Greene spent only $10,000 of his hard earned military savings. If you want the wasteful rich fat do nothing incumbent politians out of office the choice is clear.
I bet Jay Lenno goes crazy with this one .
SLED is also the same biased group that covered for Sanford. But without corruption, where would SC be? So now anytime I hear a right-winger spewing hot-garbage about "Chicago-style" politics, I'll simply correct them and say, "oh, you mean SC-style politics?"