Benjamin hired the local political consulting firm Richard Quinn and Associated to run his campaign. This is the same firm who ran Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster’s race against Benjamin in 2002, and is running McMaster’s gubernatorial campaign. Naturally, that’s giving Benjamin a free pass on RQ&A’s in-house blog, The Palmetto Scoop. Really — Wheels McGee has been at every Benjamin event we’ve ever attended, which is a tad odd for a GOP political consultant and blogger.

In the meantime, he’s also hired several people who were a part of President Barack Obama’s campaign during South Carolina’s Democratic presidential primary (Craig Schirmer and Laurin Manning, among others). Early Thursday morning, Benjamin’s campaign announced it would start running a radio ad playing up his Obama connections in the Democratic-leaning capital city.

COLUMBIA, SC – Steve Benjamin’s Mayoral Campaign broke onto the airwaves this week with a radio ad featuring a 2007 voicemail left by then Senator Barack Obama.

“I’ve saved this voicemail for well over two years now,” Benjamin explains. “It has been a personal inspiration for me because I still believe in what we can do when we work together. I still believe in hope.”

The radio spot, Benjamin’s first, went into rotation this week and can be heard on radio stations all across Columbia and at www.stevebenjamin.com.

This takes an extraordinary amount of hubris, considering that his consultants ran U.S. Sen. John McCain’s Republican presidential primary campaigns in this state not once, but twice. Quinn Sr. was a close, unpaid advisor on McCain’s campaign for president in 2008. Then there’s something else.

Interestingly, the child, who seems fit to consider the majority of Republicans in the General Assembly as socialists, has been slurping Benjamin since the very outset. Baldy ran a line of smack against former Speaker of the House David Wilkins, writing, “Anyway, given how ferociously Wilkins promotes (and protects) his reputation as a “Republican,” we were a bit surprised to see him hosting a fundraiser earlier this week for uber-liberal trial lawyer Steve Morrison, who is running for mayor of Columbia, S.C. on the Leftist Lying Bastard ticket (j/k … it’s a non-partisan election).”

Mind you, he never says things like this about the Quinn firm and its relationship with Benjamin, even while assailing RQ&A when it comes to Innovista. It’s often said that a man is judged by the friends he keeps. Another old bromide is “actions speak louder than words.” Benjamin’s words try to play up his connection to Obama. But his actions in regard to people like the Quinns, Folks and Fogle say so much more.

And at this point, we’ve been totally soured on Benjamin, Morrison and City Councilman Kirkman Finlay III. Somebody put a call in to Aaron Johnson.

GinaNSmith: Spent the day flying around S.C. w/ Gresham Barrett for a story. So windy that little plane was flying sideways! Glad 2 b back on ground!

PalmettoScoop: @GinaNSmith I’m sure you’ll straighten it all out in your “objective” story about @GreshamBarrett.

GinaNSmith: @PalmettoScoop excuse me?

SCSenatelawyer: @GinaNSmith didn’t get the memo? Unless you’re biased in our favor you’re not objective. :)

SCSenatelawyer: @SCSenatelawyer and I didn’t mean “our” as I’m a mcmaster guy

LoganJames: @GinaNSmith I’m also interested in his explanation. If you’re gonna take cheap shots, at least make them understandable :/

GinaNSmith: For the record, we’re writing profiles on each of the 10 gov candidates. Each candidate gets their own story. We’re hanging out w/ em all!

GinaNSmith: t fair reporting? Oh well. Thanks for letting me vent.

GinaNSmith: dSCSenatelawyer hi. Yeah. I find it hillarious when BLOGGERS who get paid under the table question our objectivity. What the heck do tho …

GinaNSmith: dSCSenatelawyer hi. What do those guys know about fair reporting? Oh well. Thanks for letting me vent.

wesleydonehue: @GinaNSmith you’re not direct tweeting him. you need a space between your d and “scsenatelawyer”

wesleydonehue: @PalmettoScoop You’d think that after @ginansmith’s ass kicking of Gov Sanford, you’d learn not to screw with her. I did.

scott_english: @wesleydonehue @GinaNSmith What Wes said. Also Ubertwitter is good.

But after going to a few of Benjamin’s events and seeing Richard Quinn & Associates so involved, it weirded us out. Why would a guy, a Democrat, sign up with a GOP consulting firm to win an election in a Democratic city? Strange. Crossing the streams, you might say. If it got to the “Ghostbusters” level, Benjamin might be in trouble, but we doubt that. City Councilman Kirkman Finlay III’s disclosure has yet to go up by 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning, but it doesn’t take a genius to say that Benjamin wins this race relatively comfortably, with Finlay in second and Democratic challenger Steve Morrison in third. That’s just the instant analysis from this corner of the city.

Let’s get to the numbers.

STEVE BENJAMIN
Candidate for mayor of Columbia
Contributions: $100,735
Expenditures: $116,656.16
Cash-on-hand: $42,734.89

Significant contributions
Edward Sellers, $1,000
CEO, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina
J.T. McLawhorn, $250
Columbia Urban League
Cynthia Hardy, $100
Public relations executive
Steven Mungo, $200
The Mungo Companies
Frank Knapp, $100
Public relations
Cromartie Law Firm, $125
Law firm of Columbia city councilman E.W. Cromartie
Boyd Brown, $200
State representative
Luther Battiste, $100, $200
Former Columbia city councilman
James Smith, $750
State representative
Pete Strom, $1,000
Attorney
Boyd Summers, $250, $100
Richland County Democratic Party chairman
Jack Van Loan, $100
Five Points Association
Jim Hodges, $1,000
Former governor
Zeke Stokes, $100
Consultant
Charles Way, $500
Former secretary of commerce
Lourie Law Firm, $500
Law firm of Sen. Joel Lourie

Significant expenditures
Banco Bannister (consulting), $2,500×2
WideEye Creative (Web design and construction), $4,225
New Partners Consulting (consulting), $19,800
Richard Quinn & Associates (consulting), $19,668.38, $304.95

Rep. Rex Rice, who is second in cash, spent over $10,000 more than he raised this quarter. Rep. Jeff Duncan, who’s in third, topped $21,000 in disbursements. The vast majority of the money went to campaign consultants. Rice paid firms of operative Robert Cahaly $14,404.63, while throwing $27,471.64 toward entities of Richard Quinn & Associates. Duncan gave Allen Klump’s Peacecraft Strategies $8,000 and $5,000 to WW Consulting.

For these reasons, Sen. Shane Massey leads the field, winning the award for campaign fiscal restraint. He only spent $8,028.59, leaving him with the most cash-on-hand going into the fourth quarter on 2009.

Sen. Shane Massey
Contributions: $23,221
Expenditures: $8,028.59
Cash-on-Hand: $39,365.31

Rep. Rex Rice
Contributions: $45,068.05
Expenditures: $58,499.56
Cash-on-Hand: $33,928.26

Rep. Jeff Duncan
Contributions: $37,136.25
Expenditures: $21,733.08
Cash-on-Hand: $29,615.62

James Galyean
Contributions: $40,462.58
Expenditures: $42,929.85
Cash-on-Hand: $22,618.39

Richard Cash
Contributions: $21,449.91
Expenditures: $17,154.95
Cash-on-Hand: $14,266.35

Mike Vasovski
Contributions: $6,777
Expenditures: $9,522.95
Cash-on-Hand: $8,896.80

Neal Collins
Contributions: $5,519
Expenditures: $5,513.17
Cash-on-Hand: $5,385.83

This morning, after the site was called out, it was taken down within minutes. From what we heard, Haley’s campaign was thrown under the bus as the proprietors of the operation. According to Donehue’s post, the guy now “officially” responsible said that the whole thing was done, and we’re not shitting you, by “a rogue coder.”

We’re of the opinion that Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster’s consultants are so scared of Haley, they’re totally willing to blame another gubernatorial campaign for an anonymous attack that they generated. After all, remember “TheRealWolfeReports?” These guys couldn’t find their ass with two hands and a flashlight.

The whole situation is pretty interesting, considering that the Policy Council chairman is none other than Rick Quinn. That naturally drags Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster into the mess, which could reflect badly on his gubernatorial ambitions. After all, what’s up with an organization that his political consultant is running pulling punches about Sanford?

Come on, Rick — ‘fess up. Why are you protecting America’s most-despised governor?

That’s right. Six.

And four don’t really count. The four sites were done for in-house parties The Palmetto Scoop, Rep. Rex Rice (who is an RQ&A client running for the Republican nomination for SC-03), Rice site stopdeficitspending.com and attorney general client Alan Wilson. The other two were for S.C. Club for Growth and GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. Our ol’ drunk wheelin’ friend McLovin said of his August redesign, “I absolutely love the design because it is crisp, clean, and offers easy access to the thing that keeps y’all coming back: Great content. I would like to extend a HUGE hand to the site’s designers, an up-and-coming firm in Columbia called Two Lantern Media. You can check out their own brand new website by clicking here.” Lordy. Transparency, thy name is Fogle.

As well, for a new media firm, its use of social networking has been pretty sad.

For instance, there’s the Two Lantern page on Facebook. It has one fan. Any guesses as to who that fan is?

Its performance on Twitter hasn’t been any better — two tweets. Period. A trained monkey running a company would do better than that.

Maybe these guys should have, oh, we don’t know, actually talked to a new media professional before launching this thing.

Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster officially filed his papers to run for governor on Monday, making official what has been assumed in South Carolina political circles for months. And months. And months.

According to his initial report, S.C.’s “Macker” has $630 in his campaign account, but it should be assumed that he will be moving his $1 million+ over the the gubernatorial effort relatively soon. The only interesting contribution comes from the College of Charleston’s John Crotts‘ boat company. You’d think that Henry Mac would indulge us with better fundraising sources, considering the stories we’ve heard on background. Guess not.

Already, the campaign has had a false start. McMaster’s consultant’s blog (which is run by seriously one of the most inept people we’ve ever met in politics, and that’s saying something, considering we know people in the S.C. Democratic Party leadership) wrote:

“I am proud to announce Henry will be signing the Americans for Tax Reform’s No Tax Pledge today,” McMaster spokesman Brad Henry said Friday. “As we all know, lower taxes create economic bounty.”

McMaster is the first gubernatorial candidate — announced or unannounced — to sign the ATR taxpayer protection pledge, which requires “candidates and incumbents [to] solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases.”

Oh, really? Because when it came to the pledge to conservative activist Grover Norquist’s group, this is what we saw — you know, on the ATR site:

Two Republican candidates in the South Carolina gubernatorial race, Congressman J. Gresham Barrett (R-03) and Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster (R-SC), signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge this week. The Pledge commits signers to, “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.” To date, 34 U.S. Senators and 172 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed the Pledge. Additionally, seven governors and over 1,100 state legislators have signed the Pledge.

That was posted on July 31, when the kid who thinks it’s fun to get wasted and roll over people’s feet wrote that McMaster was the only “announced or unannounced” candidate to sign that pledge. Man, oh, man. It’s 10 months out from the primary and McMaster’s joke of a staff is already making mistakes. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Oh, and before McLovin accuses us of being on the take from Barrett, he should probably make a few phone calls. You see, we’re not getting paid by any gubernatorial campaign. We just have a problem with idiots getting in positions of power. Like the guy who runs a political blog and has a fake driver’s license from Hawai’i.

South Carolina’s leading garbage heap continued its assault on U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett today, alleging that the gubernatorial candidate had skeletons in his closet. Allegations, by the way, that are being leaked by his rivals. Our money is on Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster’s campaign, because only his staffers would be that monumentally idiotic.

Why is the Palmetto State’s douchebag-in-chief turning his guns on on Barrett again? We have no idea. Especially since he wrote this of the Westminster Republican:

In fact, were there ever a prospective gubernatorial candidate in South Carolina politics who stood to benefit from such a “perfect storm” of potential support, Gresham Barrett is probably that candidate.

On the one hand, Barrett gets high marks from fiscal conservatives who respect his principled votes in support of market-based solutions and against wasteful government spending. On the other hand, he’s adored by evangelical voters who admire his uncompromising stances on a smorgasbord of social conservative issues.

“Gresham isn’t afraid to stand up for fiscal and social conservative values, sometimes almost alone and usually without getting the credit he deserves,” says Oran Smith, President of the Palmetto Family Council, a social conservative advocacy group based in Columbia, S.C.

Translation? South Carolina’s Third District Congressman has potential mass statewide appeal, not only with the burgeoning political center of pocketbook voters, but also with the diminished (but still potent) Christian Coalition wing of the South Carolina Republican establishment.

Throw in Barrett’s good looks, readily-accessible “aw, shucks” personality, made-for-television family, apple pie background (yes, he married his high school sweetheart) and it’s easy to see why many consider Barrett the frontrunner to succeed current S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, who is limited to two terms in office.

The candidate that should be worrying about clanking bones in his closet is McMaster. We personally know of a number of scandal-worthy issues, and that’s just for starters. There’s enough out there for Henry Mac to get so damaged he couldn’t even make it into the runoff.

Why aren’t we introducing “dem bones” to the sunlight? Because unlike one candidate’s sophomoric employees, we prefer to hold onto good information until it makes sense to release it.

Atty. Gen. Henry McMaster, expected to be in the top tier of Republican candidates for the gubernatorial nomination, isn’t looking so good, compared to opponent U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett. Barrett, the congressman from the Third District, reported over $975,000 in state contributions, and that doesn’t even count the $713,272 in his federal account. If you combine it, that makes over $1.6 million dollars

As it stands, McMaster has $1.1 million on hand. Guess he’s going to have to get on the horn and become more aggressive with his fundraising.

Of note:

CONTRIBUTIONS
Jim Hudson, $1,000
Auto dealer
Altria, $3,500
Cigarette company
McMullen Public Affairs, $1,000
Former S.C. Policy Council president
John Rainey, $2,500
GOP activist
Gayle Averyt, $3,500
GOP activist
Arthur Ravenel Jr., $250
Former member of the U.S. House
Travis Medlock, $100
Former attorney general

DISBURSEMENTS
It seems like McMaster really likes his consultant, Brad Henry. He just sends dollar after dollar Henry’s way. We wish we could jump on that sort of gravy train. Over two months, the Attorney General has paid his top aide $15,527.59. Damn, Hank. That’s a lot of green. But he wasn’t just doling it out to Henry.

There were the dollars he sent out to his political home, Richard Quinn & Associates. From April to June, he paid RQ&A $38,003.07. Ol’ Henry could have saved his money and bought himself a decent car with that sort of money, especially considering the poor job RQ&A usually does for its clients.

McMaster also paid FGP Consulting $14,371.60. Maybe not the best consulting group to choose, considering that the man in charge was deputy campaign manager of McCain/Palin, special assistant to former Va. Gov. Jim Gilmore and staffing the Bob Dole for President campaign. That’s quite a trifecta of fail.