Bob Conley For US Senate

Can this man win?

Yes he can.

While this blog has not endorsed any candidate for President, when it comes to the race for U.S. Senate, our support will go to the Democratic nominee Bob Conley. As The Southern Avenger points out in his latest commentary, Mr. Conley is not only more conservative than Lindsay Graham (who isn't?), he is in fact a Ron Paul Democrat.

This may seem strange to some, but it shouldn't. I have argued before that the anti-corporate mentality of many "labor" Democrats could be channeled into an authentically pro-liberty message with a little education, and that seems to be Conley's goal. Conley is not only right on war (unlike Graham's primary challenger Buddy Witherspoon), but he is also right on trade, immigration, civil liberties and amazingly enough the Fed! While I myself find many of the social issues to be peripheral at best, Conley is a pro-life, observant Catholic. His slogan appears to be "help me fight the neocons and advance the cause of liberty". What serious paleo or decentralist would ignore that call to action?

No he does not have a lot of money and he does not have a lot of organization, but he has several things going for him. For starters his cultural conservatism and opposition to mass immigration makes him appealing to many traditionally conservative Reagan democrats and disgruntled Republicans. Graham is loathed by both groups for good reason.

On top of that Conley's positions on trade will appeal to many Lou Dobbs-loving, John Edwards Democrats in the upstate. Everyone may have grown tired of the "my dad worked in a mill" narrative from Johnny boy, but the reality is that the textile workers gave him a healthy share of their votes and Conley is in perfect harmony with them on their big issue.

Finally, the huge number of black Democrats that will vote in the general election, will certainly help Conley. Many SC African-Americans vote straight ticket. They are thirty percent of the states population and nearly all of them are Democrats. With Obama on the Presidential line, it is expected that African-American turnout will be at record levels in this state. The trickle down votes to Conley (a man more in line with their views than Obama incidentally), could be huge.

In 2006 George Allen was considered the frontrunner for the GOP Presidential nomination in 08. He was seen as an insider with enough support from the conservative base to coast through his Senate race and into the White House two years later. When pro-confederate, pro-gun, anti-free trade, antiwar Jim Webb crept onto the scene most people viewed him as a novel curiosity with no hope of being elected. Early polls had him thirty points down. While Webb was more well known than Conley is, Webb wasn't elected because of his status in the Reagan administration. He was elected because he united culture conservatives, populist Democrats and antiwar dissidents in opposition to the establishment beltway Republicanism of his opponent. Graham is a significantly worse version of Allen, with much higher negatives in his home state. Conley is a much better version of Webb, and voted for Ron Paul in the primary season.

Already folks are counting Conley out and treating his campaign as a joke. A friend of his sent me a message today suggesting that he "accidentally won the nomination". One can hold on to that theory if they like, but I believe it was divine intervention and I will do my best to make sure Conley is the next Senator from South Carolina.