BTPC's primary picks: The Return of Susan Smith...

With Primary Day right around the corner, we decided to look into our old Spencer's Gifts' electric ball and take a glimpse into the future. Smarter people would utilize this technological wonder to purchase lotto tickets or warn of natural disasters. We simply use it for lame political predicting. And so, we offer up our predictions for the outcome of Tuesday's festivities. A few notes...First, there are most certainly going to be many races where Tuesday does not give us a winner, we simply cull the herd a little for run-offs.

Second, there are some races we could care less about, so we will not be making a prediction. Take the GOP primary to pick the person who will get their teeth kicked in against Congressman Clyburn here in the 6th. Who cares? Isn't going to matter, so it has held no interest for us, so we won't be predicting that race. Not that knowledge is a prerequisite for picks. We don't know shit about a lot of races and that won't stop us. We simply reserve the right to pick and choose our picking and choosing.

Finally, and as usual, the BTPC offers a money-back guarantee on all picks. For those new to our site, we're pretty rock-solid at .500 picking the NFL. So you know where we're coming from, we're about as accurate as a coin-flip...but twice as exciting!

Without further ado, let's get it on!

Democratic primary

Governor

Candidates: Vincent Sheheen, Jim Rex and Robert Ford.

Winner: Sheheen. A lot of folks are predicting Sheheen garnering the most votes, but not enough to avoid a runoff. We're gonna disagree and predict Sheheen just does squeeze out enough to avoid the runoff. Our man for all things Charleston, Polkey, says Ford won't pull much outside of his own senate district and even then he won't get much turnout there. We agree. We've seen Ford at some events in the area and the majority of people in attendance either didn't know who he was or ignored him.

FWIW, if it is a runoff, Sheheen wins in a walk. We think we've got more cash on hand than Rex, which if you know us, is abysmal.

Superintendent of Education

Candidates: Frank Holleman , Tom Thompson

Winner: Holleman. The 'Pine likes both of these candidates. Both have worked their entire lives in the educational field, trying to improve how we educate our children, a noble calling. Holleman is without a doubt the "establishment" candidate in this race. He has an impressive resume, having attended Furman, Harvard Law, and the London School of Economics. And as far as education in SC goes, he has the seal of approval from the most respected name in SC education history, Gov. Dick Riley, having served as Riley's Deputy when Riley was the US Secretary of Education.

In other words, we don't think Thompson stands a chance...and that's a damn shame. We really like Thompson. Nothing against Holleman, we are just really intrigued by Thompson's background. Born the seventh of nine kids in Chicago, Thompson is a first generation college graduate for his family. He's come up from the trenches, starting his career teaching math at an inner-city HS in Chicago and has worked on just about every level in the field. We like Thompson. He's a grinder.

US Senate

Candidates: Vic Rawl and Alvin Greene

Winner: Rawl. Just a tip...DeMint better not sleep on Rawl in the General. We know SC is a Republican state and DeMint is currently one of the big swinging dicks in the power struggle on a national level for control of that party. But Rawl is sharp, tough and has a hell of a resume. DeMint is gonna have to work for reelection.

Florence City Council Seat #1

Candidates: Billy D. Williams and Teresa Ervin

Winner: ??? Honestly, we have no idea how this race will turn out. Your guess is as good as ours. Ervin is a very attractive candidate: A nurse and realtor who has put herself through school, she is a bright, sharp lady, she could stand to capitalize if folks in that district stick to the change mantra that carried the day last time out. Billy D is Billy D and has been in that seat for a long time. Is the Colt 45 gonna work this time? Don't know, but Ervin may pull off an upset.

Florence City Council Seat #2

Candidates: Ed Robinson, Pat Gisbon-Hye and Spencer Scott

Winner: Gibson-Hye. We're gonna go ahead and predict Gibson-Hye takes this race outright. We really like Scott, who is a good candidate, but we wish he had run for the at-large seat instead of this one (Sammie Frye is running for that seat unopposed in the Dem primary, Glynn Willis for the Republicans). The votes in this district come out of the East Florence neighborhoods that Gibson-Hye has been a community activist in for a long, long time and we just don't think Scott can gather enough votes outside of those neighborhoods to overtake Pat. Anyway...the good news is, we could be rid of Ed Robinson. Wouldn't that be nice?

Republican Primary

Governor

Candidates: Andre Bauer, Henry McMaster, Gresham Barrett and Nikki Haley

Guaranteed Losers: decency, integrity and SC's reputation

Winner: Vince Sheheen. Seriously...as our predicted Democratic candidate, Sheheen is the one who stands to win from the Republican Gubernatorial primary. This race is headed for a run-off and we think it's gonna eventually come down to a choice between Nikki Haley and Henry "Foghorn Leghorn" McMaster. Either way, the real winner is gonna be Sheheen. This race has further poisoned the public well that Mark Sanford spent so much time dumping carrion into the past year. We like Sheheen's chances against either one of these two, although we'll admit, we like Sheheen's chances against Haley a lot more.

Lt.. Governor

Candidates: Larry Richter, Bill Connor, Ken Ard and Eleanor Kitzman

Winner: Run off. Between Connor and...uh...Ard? Seems like most of what we've seen has it as Richter and Connor in a runoff. However, we just can't get over Richter's lame-ass attempt to equate his sentencing 5 people to death to combat experience. Newsflash, Richter...in SC, it doesn't take guts or courage to impose the death penalty. It takes guts and courage to direct a verdict of not guilty in this state (think Judge Baxley's decision in the Hanna trial here in Florence). Haven't heard you doing much bragging about any such examples. Anyway, we were just so put off by that crap we think other people would be too. The only question is whether or not enough people see the video of this crap in time to influence their vote.

State Treasurer

Candidates: Converse Chellis and Curtis Loftis

Winner: Loftis. We're gonna pick Loftis just because we thought his Remote control-SUV ad was the best Republican ad so far. Scientific, our "system" is...

Attorney General

Candidates: Alan Wilson, Leighton Lord and Robert Bolchoz

Winner: Run off between Wilson and Lord. We like Alan Wilson, he's a nice enough guy. We think Lord is a sharp guy. The run-off will be interesting. Quick aside, if anyone is won over by Wilson's statement that he's gonna stay the course McMaster has charted of "challenging the constitutionality" of Federal law, then we don't ever want to hear them complain of "frivolous lawsuits," because that's what Henry's crap is. From the "I Believe" license plate defense to the BS challenge over the Affordable Healthcare Act, anyone who is being intellectually honest knows there is no constitutional arguments over these issues. Certainly not ones the State should be wasting money on. We prefer our AGs follow basic constitutional principles such as the Establishment and Commerce clauses. Call us crazy, but...

US House Rep District 4

Candidates: Bob Inglis, Trey Gowdy, Christina Jeffrey, Jim Lee and David Thomas.

Winner: Run off between Inglis and Gowdy. We really don't know dick about this race, but we found it funny that, apparently, "somebody's lying about Union Lake." The last time this many people were talking about a lake in Union, was when nut job Susan Smith accused a black man of kidnapping her kids, only to have it turn out Smith sent them to a watery grave herself. (BTW, Stretch Armstrong had a great song about this called "Union" from their Not Without Resistance album).

And...we're spent.