The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 04, 2002, Image 1
I
www.dailygamecock.com M(NDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2002_ Sine? 1908
Candidates’ final
debate is a slugfest
PHOTO BY ERIC SUTTON/THE GAMECOCK
Gov. Jim Hodges awaits his question during the last debate
with Mark Sanford, right, before Election Day on Tuesday.
Hodges, Sanford pull no punches
as they tackle viucation, taxes
BY COREY GARRIOTT
THE GAMECOCK
In the last gubernatorial de
bate before Tuesday’s elections,
Gov. Jim Hodges and GOP chal
lenger Mark Sanford fought
over the defining issues of South
Carolina’s election season —
mainly education, taxes and the
economy.
The two exchanged friendly
handshakes before the de
bate, but by night’s end, the can
didates had taken off their
gloves to try to make their posi
tions clear.
Hodges, who was elected in
1998 on an education platform,
kept education in the spotlight
throughout the debate. “It’s the
defining issue of my campaign,”
he said.
Hodges wants to increase
funding to education, including
such programs as First Steps, an
early childhood health-educa
tion program, through the lot
ery and other programs. The
&oney would go toward raising
tochers’ salaries to the national
avvage and paying for im
pro °ments in the public-school
systfcn.
A k»y point of contention be
tween te two was Sanford’s pro
posal foischool vouchers.
Vouchees would give parents
some of thv money that would
otherwise gt>to public schools.
Parents could hen choose which
school to send tlojr child to, pub
lic or private. Tyey would use
the voucher to pai the school.
“Now, hold on thsre, partner,”
Hodges said. “Hen’s the truth
♦ DEBATE, SEE PAGET
House race
expected to
change little
BY BRUCE SMITH
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLESTON - In an election
season when-most of the attention
is on races for governor and the
U.S. Senate, it’s easy to forget
there are contests in all six of
South Carolina’s congressional
districts.
That said, don’t look for any
change in the makeup of the
House delegation after the votes
are tallied on Election Day. There
should still be four Republicans
and two Democrats, said Bill
Moore, a College of Charleston po
litical scientist.
“Because of the way the elec
tion districts are drawn, you have
safe congressional districts —
Democrat or Republican — in five
of the six cases,” he said.
That sixth case is the one open
congressional seat in the 3rd
District along the state’s western
edge. That’s the seat U.S. Rep.
Lindsey Graham is leaving to run
for the U.S. Senate seat held by re
tiring Strom Thurmond.
And there, Moore expects state
Rep. Gresham Barrett, R
Westminster, to win out and keep
the district in the GOP column as
he faces high school guidance
counselor George Ijjrightharp.
Although Graham was the first
Republican since Reconstruction
to win the seat, the district has
trended increasingly conservative
since then.
Only two incumbents face ma
jor-party opposition, while the oth
ers face third-party candidates.
Barrett Was the top vote-getter
in June’s six-way GOP primary
in the 3rd District. He then de
feated state Rep. Jim Klauber, R
♦ ELECTIONS, SEE PAGE 3
Statewide ballot
'to include three
black candidates
SPARTANBURG (AP) - The two
black men and one black woman
on Tuesday’s ballot will make his
tory, win or lose.
With attorney general hopeful
Steve Benjamin, secretary of state
aspirant Rick Wade and Marva Y.
Manigault running for education
superintendent, voters will see
three black citizens on the
* statewide ballot for the first time
in state history.
A fourth black candidate,
Kevin Gray, was expected to be on
the ballot in a belated bid for gov
ernor. The State Election
Commission, however, would not
put him on tne
ballot because
he was nomi
nated too late
by the United
Citizens Party.
Gray, a
Columbia black
activist who has run several po
litical campaigns for others, con
tinues to wage a write-in cam
paign.
All of those candidates give
I voters racial diversity on ballots
where about a fourth of the vot
ers are black. In the 2000 elec
tion, 76 percent of voters were
white and 24 percent were not
white.
The increase in black candi
dates “is long overdue,” said
Blease Graham, a political science
professor at USC.
Graham views the candidacies
as part of the fulfillment of the im
plementation of the Voting Rights
i
Act in 1964, which ensured black
people the right to vote.
“There is no reason why
African-Americans couldn’t get
elected, but it would be naive to
think racism isn’t discussed in
some circles.”
Willie M. Legette, associate
professor of political science and
history at South Carolina State
University, thinks black candi
dates are staying away from the
historical significance because
they are afraid it will discourage
white support.
“Black candidates don’t bring
the historic significance to atten
tion because
they don’t
want to give
white voters
the impression
that they are
trying to take
over,” Legette
said. Their idea is to ae-empha
size race and hope and pray that
white people will be able to pull
the lever for them.”
The candidates disagree.
“I am not running to make his
tory,” Benjamin said. “I am run
ning to make a difference.”
Benjamin, a Democrat, has had
the most financial success among
black candidates, and has raised
more than $1 million from black
and white supporters alike.
That support is an indication
people can look at candidates for
their abilities and not their color,
♦ CANDIDATES, SEE PAGE 2
■ !-1
I am not running to make
history; I am running to
make a difference.
STEVE BENJAMIN
ATTORNEY GENERAL HOPEFUL
Index
Comics and Crossword 7
Classifieds 10
Horoscopes 7
Letters to the Editor 4
Online Poll 4
Police Report 3
Weather
TODAY TOMORROW
High 59 High 60
Low 51 Low 52
Inside
♦ NEWS First Baptist Church
recognizes USC’s Greek
organizations in a special
Sunday service. Page 2
♦ VIEWPOINTS Students from
both major parties discuss the
importance of Tuesday’s
Election Day. Page 4
♦ THE MIX “I Spy” turns an
unlikely pairing into an amusing
movie. Page 5
♦ SPORTS The football team
loses - again - to the
Tennessee Volunteers. Page 8
Sorensen takes time for kids
rnui U DT JUniNINT MATINta/ I lit UAMtUUUfN
USC President Andrew Sorensen reads to students at the Center for Inquiry to show support for a bond referendum for Richland
1 schools. Richland County residents will vote on the referendum, which would upgrade area middle and high schools by adding
classroom space, science and computer labs, media centers, fine-arts space, physical-education facilities, and cafeterias.
tion
2002
oun4|Pfecincts Close to USC
Reformation Lutheran a WARD 33 - Martin Luther King
18 Union St. ’ Memorial Park, 2300 Greene St.
WARD 8 - Allen Benedict DUTCH FORK - Dutch Fork High,
Community Room, 1504 Allen 1400 Old Tamah Road, Irrrjp
BeneaictPlaza V
EASTOVER - Eastover Park”
WARD 9 - Pfjnce Hall Masonic 1031 Main St., Eastover
Lodge; 23246ervais St.
GREGG PARK-Shandon
WARD 12 - Hand Middle School, Baptist Church, 5250 Forest
2600 W teiMW. Drive
WARD 13 - Rosewood HARBISON - Harbison
Elementary, 3300 Rosewood Community Center, 106 Hillpine
Drive Road
„ - . ‘ . ‘ ‘
WARD 30 - Arsenal Hill Park,
Voting precincts will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Source: The State newspaper
GRAPHIC BY JULIA KNETZER/THE GAMECOCK
Student accused of
elevator vandalism
Resident was
trapped for
nearly 2 hours
BY ALEXIS STRATTON
THE (iAMECOCK
A USC student stuck in an
apartment elevator for two
hours is now accused of vandal
ism by the apartment building’s
management and its insurance
company.
Aurovinda Gangam, a USC
graduate student studying com
puter science, might face up to
$10,000 in damage charges from
Whaley’s Mill Apartments in
surer Atlantic Mutual. Gangam
forced open the elevator doors at
the Whaley’s Mill Apartments at
Whaley and Main streets, caus
ing damage that the Columbia
Police Department described as
“malicious injury to personal
property.”
"I thought they would get it
repaired, and I thought, ‘I’m
studying, so I don’t want to get
involved in all the legal busi
ness.’ But later he was saying
since the door got damaged, I
have to pay,” Gangam said. “I
was a victim,” he said. “I was
stuck up in the elevator for two
hours, and after that, they asked
me to pay.”
Chris Carter, a manager at
the apartment building, said that
although the Whaley's Mill
management does acknowledge
that Gangam was stuck in an el
evator for two hours, witnesses -
including a technician who
helped free Gangam and
Whaley’s Mill night manager
John Miller - say Gangam vio
lently damaged the elevator
door.
Carter said the door was
damaged “so badly, parts had to
♦ ELEVATOR, SEE PAGE 2