SOUTH CAROLINA 8 Electoral Votes
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, South Carolina State Election Commission)
Total Population, April 1, 2000 4,012,012
Voting Age Population, Nov. 2000 2,977,000 % change from '96  +6.2
Total Registration, Oct. 1, 2000  2,157,006
South Carolina has: 46 counties.
Largest counties: Greenville, Charleston, Richland, Spartanburg, Lexington.

Government
Governor: Jim Hodges (D) elected in 1998.
State Legislature: South Carolina General Assembly  House: 59D, 64R, 1v   Senate: 24D, 22R
Local: Cities and Towns, Counties  NACO Counties
U.S. House: 4R, 2D - 1. M.Sanford (R) | 2. F.Spence (R) | 3. L.Graham (R) | 4. J.DeMint (R) | 5. J. Spratt (D) | 6. J.Clyburn (D).U.S. Senate: Strom Thurmond (R) seat up in 2002 , Fritz Hollings (D) re-elected in 1998.
Changes as of the November 2000 Elections
State Legislature: All 124 House seats and all 46 Senate seats were up.  Democrats fell further behind in the House but retained control of the Senate.  House: 54D, 70R  Senate: 24D, 22R.
U.S. House: Republicans retained the Rep. Sanford's seat (self term limited): 1. H.Brown (R).

The Palmetto State

 State of South Carolina
State Election Commission

Constitution Party of SC
Natural Law Party of SC
Reform Party of SC
SC Democratic Party
SC Libertarian Party
SC Republican Party

The State (Columbia)
Post and Courier (C'ston)
News Media
Media (Newsp.)
Media (TV)

Politics1-SC
General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Past Results
1996
Dole (Rep.).............573,458
(49.79)
Clinton (Dem.)........506,283
(43.96)
Perot (Ref./Pat.).......64,386 
(5.59)
Others (3)..................7,562
(0.66)
Total........1,151,689

1992
Bush (Rep.).............577,507
(48.02)
Clinton (Dem.)........497,514
(39.88)
Perot (Petition)......138,872 
(11.55)
Others (3)..................6,634
(0.55)
Total........1,202,527

Results
2000
Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
565,561
(40.90)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
1,682
(0.12)
Nader/LaDuke (Un.Cit.)
20,200
(1.46)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
3,519
(0.25)
Hagelin/Goldhaber (NLP)
942
(0.07)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
785,937
(56.84)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
4,876
(0.35)
Total........1,382,717
Overview
South Carolina, the scene of such great activity during the Republican presidential primary in February, saw a very quite campaign on the presidential level in the fall.  None of the principals visited.  Bush carried the Palmetto State with a comfortable plurality of 220,307 votes (15.94 percentage points).  Bush won 31 counties to 15 for Gore. >  Heath Thompson ran Republicans' Victory 2000 effort; Remle Beard was Gore-Lieberman state director.  One issue on the ballot that did generate considerable debate was Amendment 1 to lift a ban on lotteries; it passed. 

State primary election  June 13, 2000

Presidential Primary Results 
  
.Record turnout in the Feb. 19 Republican primary--over 570,000, compared to 276,741 in 1996.
.South Carolina Democrats could not get a waiver from the DNC to hold a primary on Feb. 19, the same date as the Republican primary, and ended up using a caucus system as they had in 1996.
(State primary election held June 13, 2000)
 Republicans 
Presidential Preference Primary
Saturday Feb. 19, 2000
. Primary run by the South Carolina Republican Party.
. Open primary--open to all citizens who are registered to vote in the state.
. $10,000 filing fee to appear on the ballot.

 
100% reporting.
Total Vote
Percent
Gary Bauer1
618
0.11%
George W. Bush
305,998
53.39%
Steve Forbes1
449
0.08%
Orrin Hatch1
76
0.01%
Alan Keyes
25,996
4.54%
John McCain
239,964
41.87%
Total
573,101
1. Candidate withdrew before primary but was on ballot.
Detailed Results
 Total Delegates 
37 of 2,066 (1.8%).

Delegate Allocation
Congressional District delegates  18
At-large delegates                       19

Bush-34
McCain-3

Democrats 
Presidential Caucuses
Thursday March 9, 2000
State Convention
Saturday May 6, 2000
. Executive Committee of the South Carolina Democratic Party first sought waiver to hold primary Feb. 19, then set primary for March 9, then on Jan. 27, 2000 voted to use  a presidential caucus system.
1,732 precincts reporting (92.3% of precincts)
Delegates
Percent
Al Gore
8,864
91.8%
Bill Bradley1
172
1.8%
Bill Kreml
107
1.1%
Uncomm.
514
5.3%
Total
9,657
  
1. Sen. Bradley withdrew on March 9 before the caucuses.		 Total Pledged Delegates
43 of 3,537 (1.2%).
Total Delegates
52 of 4,335 (1.2%).

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001  Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.