The Green Elephant: Winter 2008
 

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At our January 2008 press conference
in Columbia, announcing REP's
endorsement of Senator John McCain,
are Attorney General Henry McMaster,
REP President Martha Marks, Government
Affairs Director David Jenkins,
State Senator John Courson, and
State Coordinator Chester Sansbury.


Senator and Mrs. John McCain at a
pre-debate pep rally in Myrtle Beach.
Photo by REP's David Jenkins.


REP's Jim DiPeso, Chester Sansbury,
and David Jenkins outside the
Post and Courier, where they met with the
editorial board in December 2007.
The paper published an article about REP,
Republican group's focus is
conservation, really,"
as a result of that meeting.


REP's Martha Marks being interviewed
after a pre-debate press conference in
Myrtle Beach in January 2008.
Photo by David Jenkins.
Click here to see Martha on YouTube,
speaking at the press conference.


At a January 2008 press conference
in Columbia, South Carolina,
announcing REP's endorsement of
Senator John McCain are
REP President Martha Marks,
Arizona Senator Jon Kyle, and
Government Affairs Director David Jenkins.

 

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REP’s December-January South Carolina "Blitz"

Well, we promised that we’d pull out the stops in South Carolina with our message on climate change and a new publication—Good Stewards: A Conservative Citizen’s Guide to Climate Change—and by golly, we did just that. We also managed to work in some serious promotion for our endorsed candidate for president, Senator John McCain.

Policy Director Jim DiPeso and Government Affairs Director David Jenkins spent a week traversing the state in December. Dave drove back in January for another week-long stint with President Martha Marks. Along the way, they were helped in a variety of ways by State Coordinator Chester Sansbury and fellow REPs State Senator John Courson, State Rep. Ben Hagood (chairman of Governor Mark Sanford’s Climate Change Advisory Panel), and Attorney General Henry McMaster.

It’s hard to summarize two weeks’ worth of media interviews, press conferences, individual and group meetings, political rallies, debates and celebrations in this space, but we’ll try.

Jim and Dave’s mid-December trip focused on the media and spreading our message to rank-and-file conservatives in South Carolina.

In a Myrtle Beach radio studio, they did a live morning drive-time show with conservative hosts “Steve and Debby.” In a Charleston studio, they did a live afternoon drive-time gig with shock-jock “Rocky D.” In Columbia, they made a live appearance on the “U Need to Know” show.

With Chester, they met the Executive Director of the South Carolina Republican Party, the Policy Director for Governor Sanford, and a key aide to Senator Courson.

Their editorial board meeting at the Charleston Post & Courier resulted in an article (at left) spotlighting REP’s take on the election. They also met with the ed board of the Beaufort Gazette and the environmental reporter at The State, the most influential newspaper in the state.

They were invited to submit a full-length editorial on climate change to the Greenville News.

They delivered hundreds of copies of Good Stewards to the Conservation Voters of South Carolina and the Coastal Conservation League, both of which promised to spread the publication far and wide.

Representative Hagood and Senator Courson took dozens of copies of Good Stewards to pass along to their legislative colleagues and members of the Climate Change Advisory Panel.

Chester emailed links to our “Good Stewards” campaign web page—with an offer of hard-copy Good Stewards—to his huge state-wide environmental and GOP e-lists.

Together, Dave, Jim, Chester, Senator Courson and Representative Hagood lay a solid foundation for the next round of our blitz, which was yet to come.

The second week of January found Dave back in South Carolina again, this time with Martha. They didn’t travel as much as Dave had with Jim, but they worked their contacts hard and did everything they could to help McCain in the big week before the South Carolina primary. By coincidence, they were in Columbia the night of McCain’s New Hampshire win. Next morning, The State ran a photo of Martha and Dave celebrating with other McCain backers* as they watched the NH primary returns.

Dave, Martha and Chester went to two large GOP gatherings—including a presidential forum—where they connected with different sets of elected officials.

They held a press conference with Attorney General McMaster and Senator Courson at McCain’s state headquarters, to talk about climate change and promote awareness of McCain’s leadership on the issue. Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, who was there campaigning for McCain, joined the high-level discussion.

The next morning, on the first day of the legislative session, they were guests at House and Senate briefings, where leaders of the state conservation community made presentations. Senator Courson introduced Martha, Dave and Chester to the assembled legislators and encouraged his GOP colleagues to join REP, giving them yet another chance to talk with state legislators about climate change.

That afternoon, Dave and Martha drove to Greenville to meet Taylor Hall, head of the South Carolina College Republicans. He invited them to return in April for a follow-up speaking and networking engagement.

From Greenville, they drove to Myrtle Beach, where they participated in a “Climate Coolers” press conference. Martha spoke*** and later was interviewed on camera* by a Myrtle Beach TV station. She and Dave were also interviewed by a political reporter from The State. In addition, Dave was interviewed on air by a local radio host.

Senator Courson got extra tickets so Martha and Dave could attend the Fox debate in Myrtle Beach, which they found fascinating. Before the debate, they joined John and Cindy McCain at a rockin’ rally* at a local restaurant.