 |
|
 |
|
|
Spartanburg
Herald, by Jim Davenport
Columbia, Feb. 28, 2003 - A Greenville advertising
executive who wants to be chairman of the state Democratic Party
wants to create a gentler image as it builds support around
the 2004 presidential primary.
"We need a business skill set to rebuild the party,"
Joe Erwin said Thursday as he announced he would run to replace
Dick Harpootlian, a Columbia lawyer known for his harsh words
and abrasive attacks on Republicans.
It's time to change that facet of the party's image and bring
"new ideas, new people into leadership," Erwin said.
"I don't want to be in a spitting match with" Republican
Party Chairman Katon Dawson. "I will not be an attack dog."
Erwin said his mother is a Republican and she would "slap
me sideways" if he used gratuitous attacks. Instead, his
mother is encouraging him to make the Democratic Party "a
party of ideas and not strong words."
Since Republicans had so much success in the November elections,
it's time for Democrats to study what the GOP did right. "I've
got to look at what the Republicans have done -- and done well,"
Erwin said. That includes the party's grass-roots organizing
efforts.
Erwin and his challenger, Margaret Feagin, see the party's negative-tone
television ad blitz as a major flaw in last year's campaign.
"We moved more toward the technology and the media and
the television ads instead of getting down to the grass roots,"
Feagin said.
Feagin is from West Columbia and has been president of the state
Democratic Women for two years. She says she's spent that time
listening to concerns. "Their concerns are my concerns.
We need to change our direction, change our focus and change
our method of doing business," Feagin said.
Feagin says the state chairman should serve full time. "I
think that's what it's going to take in order to bring us back
up to the competitive field," she said.
Erwin and Feagin will face each other in the May 3 election
at the party's convention.
That election comes in the midst of the party's biggest events
in years. Presidential candidates are scheduled to be at the
party's Jefferson Jackson fund-raising dinner the previous night
and to debate after the convention on May 3. That event is being
billed as the first debate of all the announced Democratic presidential
candidates.
Erwin sees the combination of events as critical to generating
volunteers and money needed to pull off the Feb. 3, 2004, primary.
"It's the chance to mobilize a great deal of volunteerism"
and money, he said.
"This will be the most exciting time that we have seen
in the Democratic Party," Feagin said.
<Back to Home |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
