PoliTick-Tock

Voter stream slow, no machine problems in NMB

By 8 a.m. this morning, about 15 voters had come through the door at the Crescent precinct poll in North Myrtle Beach. Poll worker Jean Boseman said she expected today's voter turnout to be a bit on the slow side.

Workers also reported that the electronic voting machines were running smoothly. Volunteer Bill Mullin said he makes sure to reiterate to folks that they have three chances to change their mind before they vote with the electronic ballot.

"The biggest problem is people's fear of touch screens," he said. "They only time you ever see one is if you're using a debit card."

He says walking through each step with the voters has been helpful.

"If you do that with everybody, we have less problems."

"They're getting more used to it," added poll worker Sandy Bruce. "It's such a long time in between when they use it. They don't remember from one time to the next."

Reuniting at the polls

Crescent precinct poll workers Jean Boseman and Levon McSwain go back - way back.

"We worked together about 55 years ago at the Highway Patrol," said Boseman, 73.

"I enjoyed that job," said McSwain, chatting with Boseman about their time in Raleigh, N.C.

After leaving the job and moving to the North Myrtle Beach area in 1989, Boseman spotted McSwain's name in an article in The Sun News a few years ago, looked her up in the phone book and rekindled their friendship.

"I said, 'Come work with me at the polls,'" said Boseman, a volunteer for nearly 20 years. McSwain soon joined her and the two friends have since worked at Crescent precinct on Possum Trot Road in North Myrtle Beach.

Democrats sue to get candidate off ballot

A Republican seeking the state Senate seat representing North Myrtle Beach filed using two bogus addresses, and should be taken off the ballot, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the state Democratic Party.

William McKown previously served on the Surfside Beach Town Council from 2004 until January, when he resigned to take a position on a state aeronautics board. He could not be reached for comment Thursday at the mobile number he filed with elections officials.

According to the complaint, McKown applied for voter registration using an address of 521 48th Ave. S, North Myrtle Beach. On his candidacy form with election officials, McKown listed as his residence 2504 S. Ocean Blvd., North Myrtle Beach.

The 48th Avenue address, Democrats say, is an unoccupied property still under construction where no permits have been filed, and the Ocean Boulevard address is ``apparently vacant and is listed with a rental agency that secures short-term vacation rentals,'' according to their news release.

"If Mr. McKown can't figure out where he lives, he certainly shouldn't be a state Senator," state Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler said in the release. "He apparently lives outside the district, but he thought no one would notice if he made up an address within the district as his legal residence. The voters of Horry County deserve an honest Senator, not someone who is willing to disregard the law in order to get elected."

Senate District 28 is held by state Sen. Dick Elliott, a Democrat. McKown was the only Republican to file.

Hannity cancels on S.C. GOP

Conservative talk show host Sean Hannity will not speak tonight at a dinner hosted by the S.C. Republican Party because of a scheduling conflict, a state party spokesman said.

Instead, Lt. Col.-turned political commentator Oliver North will speak at the first-in-the-south celebration dinner, spokesman Rob Godfrey said.

Tickets for the event were $75.

Clinton supporters rally for N.H. primary

Local supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination will gather at the Wild Wing Cafe in North Myrtle Beach on Tuesday night to watch the New Hampshire primary returns.

RSVPs are appreciated; call Janet Chilton at (843) 390-0555.

What | Primary returns watch party for Hillary Clinton

When | 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday

Where | Wild Wing Cafe at Barefoot Landing, 4706 Highway 17 S, North Myrtle Beach

McCain to open NMB campaign headquarters

Supporters of Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will open a campaign headquarters in North Myrtle Beach on Tuesday evening, the same night McCain hopes to win the New Hampshire primary.

The grand opening of the headquarters will be at 6 p.m. at the corner of Fifth Avenue North and U.S. 17, said Barbara Leonard, Horry County campaign chair.

The office will serve Myrtle Beach and the Pee Dee region, said David Ward, a McCain field representative. Three or four staff members will work at the office, but he expects a "huge number" of volunteers.

As vote tallies from New Hampshire roll in, the grand opening could become a watching party for the primary results, Leonard said. Those plans will be determined as the grand opening takes shape, Ward said.

An assortment of polls over the weekend show McCain leading Mitt Romney in New Hampshire by about five points. Mike Huckabee, who won the Republican caucus in Iowa, places third in most Granite State polls.

What | Grand opening of McCain campaign headquarters

When | 6 p.m. Tuesday

Where | Corner of Fifth Avenue North and U.S. 17, North Myrtle Beach

Presidential candidates invited to discuss coastal issues

Presidential candidates attending the Republican and Democratic debates have been invited to meet with the five mayors of the Grand Strand's coastal towns and cities and the chair of the Horry County
Council, representing the Grand Strand Coastal Alliance, to discuss common issues with them, according to a news release from the city of North Myrtle Beach.

Members of the Grand Strand Coastal Alliance will be available from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan.10, the day of the Republican Party debate, at the media tent adjacent to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center, the news release said. The Alliance is planning to do the same for the Democratic debate Jan. 21. A time and location will be announced in the near future, the release said.

Members of the Grand Strand Coastal Alliance sent a letter to each candidate inviting them to meet with Alliance members and asking for their assistance and attention to several key issues that affect the coastal region, the state of South Carolina and the Southeast.

The letter to the presidential candidates targets five critical issues: global warming, transportation, beach renourishment, the Intracoastal Waterway, and ocean access for people with physical handicaps, the release said.

For more information, please contact John Smithson, city manager of North Myrtle Beach, at 280-5526 or Nicole Aiello, public information officer of North Myrtle Beach, at 280-5612.

Want to eat at Huckabee? RSVP.

Cleo Steele, president of the North Myrtle Beach Republican club, said she'd like people to RSVP and pay $20 if they are going to eat at the club's event with Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, is scheduled to be at the Barefort Resort Clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.

Steele said she is ordering hors d'oeuvres and would like people to RSVP for the event. There's a $20 charge to eat. She is planning for food for 125 people. The money will not be a donation to the Huckabee campaign or to the North Myrtle Beach Republican club; it will simply pay for the food, she said.

Please call Pat Bava, the social director for the club, at 249-3750, or Steele at 249-3490 to RSVP.

Huckabee to be in North Myrtle Beach

Surging presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will be in North Myrtle Beach on Friday, local Republican organizers said.

Huckabee, the former Republican Arkansas governor who was just dubbed "Huckaboom" by The Drudge Report, will be at the Barefoot Resort Clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. in North Myrtle Beach, said Robert Rabon, chair of the Horry County Republican Party.

What | Mike Huckabee campaign stop
When | 6:30 p.m. Friday
Where | Barefoot Resort Clubhouse

McCain heads to North Myrtle

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona will return Friday for what is, by our count, at least his sixth trip to the Grand Strand this year.

This time, he'll be campaigning at Rick's Kitchen in North Myrtle Beach, then heading down the coast to Seabrook Island for a town hall meeting afterward. From his Web site: 

What | Meet and greet with John McCain
When | 11:50 a.m. Friday
Where | Rick's Kitchen, 1501 Highway 17 South, North Myrtle Beach

Previous McCain visits include Conway in March, Murrells Inlet in April, Aynor and Little River in September, Pawleys Island in October and Coastal Carolina University earlier this month (click for our coverage).

Why does McCain visit the Strand so frequently? Hard to say, but it's worth noting that he won both Georgetown and Horry counties in the 2000 Republican primary over George W. Bush. Bush took the state, however, in a loss some see as costing McCain the steam he had gathered from an early surprise New Hampshire win and the rest of his 2000 candidacy.