Rock Hill Herald Newspaper Endorses Tom Clements for U.S. Senate Over Incumbent DeMint

Press release sent to [email protected]:

COLUMBIA, SC — In an historically unprecedented move for any newspaper in the state, the Rock Hill Herald today endorsed Green Party candidate Tom Clements for U.S Senate in the race against the absent Senator Jim DeMint. Clements is on the top of the ballot in the race against Jim DeMint and Alvin Greene. The Herald is the daily newspaper of South Carolina’s fourth largest city.

The editorial, entitled “Clements for Senate – Green Party candidate Tom Clements offers a viable alternative in this race” is on-line at: http://www.heraldonline.com/2010/10/30/2572265/clements-for-senate.html

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Clements welcomed the endorsement, which comes at the end of months of crisscrossing the state to a host of campaign events. “I am pleased that the Rock Hill Herald has the foresight to endorse me and point out my positive attributes and the flaws of my opponent Jim DeMint,” said Clements. “If elected, I pledge to work to break through the logjam and rancor caused by DeMint and other politicians more interested in self-serving politics than getting the job done on behalf of South Carolinians.”

The editorial says about Clements, “While the environment, and global warming in particular, is his area of expertise, he also is fluent on a number of other critical issues, including the need to support small businesses, preserving Social Security, supporting education, making health care available to all Americans and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” The editorial concludes its endorsement: “In this race, Clements and DeMint are the only viable candidates. We think, however, that Clements would, ultimately, be a more effective advocate for the interests of this state.”

The Herald states that the incumbent Jim DeMint’s absence from the state shows that he is taking support in the state for granted. The paper goes on to say that “his extreme views go too far for a large segment of South Carolinians.” Concerning Democrat Alvin Greene, the endorsement reaches the conclusion shared by many South Carolinians that “[h]is campaign can be dismissed as sadly inadequate.”

The Clements campaign has been running hard since June and Clements has spoken to a variety of events and meetings state-wide, including NAACP forums, university classes, stump events and community meetings, and to a host of formal Democratic gatherings. Clements met with the editorial board of the Rock Hill Herald in early October.

The Clements for Senate campaign is now running radio and TV ads statewide and was placed second to DeMint in the Oct 5-10 Winthrop University Poll, the only three candidate poll conducted for this race.

Voters who may vote “straight party” can go directly to the Senate race and vote for Clements, as the campaign explains on its website: http://clementsforsenate.com/?p=841

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