Senate race again shows true colors

To call the state Senate District 46 race spirited might be an understatement, especially as it built a full head of steam in the final days leading up to the primary.

The worst display of mudslinging during the South Carolina primaries occurred between Tom Davis, Gov. Mark Sanford's former chief of staff, and Sen. Catherine Ceips, a former representative who won the duration of Scott Richardson's seat last year when he resigned to become the state insurance director.

Neither candidate is on the path to achieving sainthood, but even before Davis threw his hat in the ring, the incumbent's camp threw the first punch, claiming Davis had hired illegal workers to paint his downtown Beaufort house. The attack was followed with allegations that Davis was linked to a porn Web site, a fraudulent securities trader, political groups that a black state Supreme Court justice characterized as "the new face of the Klan" and even The Beaufort Gazette. With each allegation — all largely unfounded (however, a few Gazette employees did rent a house that Davis owned, but they were asked to vacate before he signed his intent to run for Senate) — Ceips seemed to lose more supporters, especially those who might have been on the fence.

Her senatorial demise is somewhat tragic. Ceips had a decent run in the Senate and had made quite a few inroads as a House representative from 2002-07. She also had strong supporters, including several political action committees and many regional, state and local donors.

Her campaign manager, Rod Shealy, even covertly started a weekly newspaper in Beaufort County that promoted Ceips over Davis in a front-page article.

Davis stuck more to the issues and stayed mostly off the radar screen. He does, however, have others to fight for him, and perhaps the biggest slinger on his campaign trail was his former boss, Sanford.

Sanford publicly accused Ceips of abstaining from a key vote in May for restructuring state government and threw in a jab referencing her early departure from a Lady's Island campaign event. "To that end, I'd ask everyone down in Beaufort County who cares about the idea of making government more efficient and more accountable to call Sen. Ceips and ask her to take a stand for this bill," Sanford said in the May release.

On Wednesday, after his buddy won the Senate 46 primary, the governor had another dig in: "In particular to the race down in Beaufort, I think what we saw as well was a repudiation of a campaign filled with the kind of cheap political shenanigans that voters are sick and tired of. ..."

After his victory, Davis graciously paid respect to Ceips, highlighting her dedication in constituent service: "The dedication and zeal she puts in, I can learn from that."

Ceips, however chose to stay on the low road, saying, "...It appears the out-of-state money won."

Ironically, after another muddy S.C. 46 Senate race between Ceips and Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton last year, Ceips held a press conference saying she plans to introduce legislation that would punish candidates who use misleading or false information in their materials.

Ceips didn't have to stoop to such lows in the race; she probably did more to sour voters from this and any future election. She, instead, should have aligned herself with a healthier crowd simply because she had the backers and the finances, not to mention the track record, to have won the race.

Davis defeated Ceips by 12 percentage points in Tuesday's Republican primary.

But he didn't win the primary as much as Ceips lost it.