Runoffs — the ugly byproduct of close, multi-candidate elections.

The races for Columbia mayor and District Four councilman will be decided in runoffs, as no candidate in either of those races reached the 50 percent-plus-one threshold for winning the election. Joe Azar (bested by fellow Harden Street businessman Aaron Johnson for fourth place) said in a recent one of his famous newsletters that because no candidate was trumpeting polling numbers, the race was likely to be a toss-up. It was, for the top three.

With 76 of 78 precincts reporting, Steve Benjamin was at 35.5 percent (6,067), Councilman Kirkman Finlay III at 32.1 percent (5,485) and Steve Morrison coming in at 29.5 percent (5,053). That’s pretty tight, considering conventional wisdom last year had it that Benjamin was going to run away with the election. With Morrison out of the way, expected thinking would be that Benjamin would consolidate the city’s Democrats and win in the runoff. But, that’s not necessarily so.

Consider that District Four, Finlay’s old seat, will be going up on the same day. Former city manager Leona Plough (32.3 percent, 1,831) will face off against Tony Mizzell (31.4 percent, 1,782). That would mean a bump in people who would normally vote for Finlay, as opposed to if the mayoral election was alone on the ballot.

Then take both these examples and throw them out. Runoffs come down to organization and getting your people out. Whomever has the tightest, best ground game will win the day. The WR betting line is Benjamin, -7.

In the only other competitive race, Grant Robertson mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge to Councilwoman Tameika Issac-Devine, losing 57-41.9 percent.

For the day before Tuesday’s Columbia city elections, there was some definite interesting news being made, and it didn’t concern the wide-open race for mayor. Perhaps the biggest news was handed down by a three-judge panel who said that the District Two election to replace E.W. Cromartie could not continue.

Because South Carolina is subject to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — widely considered the best-written piece of major law in Congressional history — the U.S. Justice Department has to approve changes made to election procedure. Since that has yet to happen, the election is delayed. It seemed to us like that was certain to be the case, despite hand-wringing on both sides about whether to go ahead with the vote or postpone it.

Then there was the news coming out regarding District Four candidate Grant Robertson‘s use of the consulting services of his brother-in-law Anthony Quattrone, who is linked to the firm of Richard Quinn & Associates, and Robertson’s apparent disinterest in talking about it. Granted, RQ&A’s involvement in Steve Benjamin‘s mayoral campaign is pretty interesting, in Robertson’s case, this looks a little different. From all appearances, it looks like Robertson called up a member of the family in the business to help out for a late push to try to pull the upset.

Lastly, there was where we were going to come down on the mayoral race. The Benjamin campaign’s hiring of RQ&A, yet trying to play up the Obama connections, never really felt right. It’s the sort of uncomfortable that when it happens, makes you walk into the voting booth and simply become unable to press that button. That leads us to Steve Morrison. We have friends who come down on both sides of whether Morrison should be the next mayor. One group swears that he has the ability to lead Columbia forward. Others have not had the best experiences while dealing with him and local community organizations. Don’t know who’s right on this one.

But after thinking about it and talking with people for the past two weeks, we’ve decided to throw our lot — however small it is — behind Councilman Kirkman Finlay III‘s effort. In a Democratic city, Finlay is outspoken conservative, even receiving the endorsements of U.S. Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham. However, even liberals we know are seriously considering voting for Finlay. It comes down to a matter of making a clean break with the financial mess that has engulfed the city. His budget-hawk manner and his pragmatic plans to continue revamping Main Street are things Columbia desperately needs right now.

We have no doubt that all the candidates for mayor — including Aaron Johnson and Joe Azar, whom we’ve personally dealt with in the past — are committed to making positive change in the Capital City. But it simply appears that Finlay is the best choice right now.

What’s perhaps the best development of all is seeing just about everyone we know, from casual observers to political operatives, get deeply involved in the campaign. We like people who are involved in five different campaigns, and it’s pretty cool that so many young people want to make our city the best it can be, instead of getting fed up and decamping to somewhere else. So, no matter who wins, the city’s future appears to be bright.

The day before the city elections in Columbia, it’s time to take some time and look at who’s raising what, and from where. As of right now, the pre-election reports from Councilman Kirkman Finlay III, businessman Joe Azar and Nammu Muhammad are not online, but one imagines that they’re in a nice little file over at the State Ethics Commission. Either way, everybody has to get reports in on April 10, so we’ll find out what the details are — beyond the big numbers — then.

STEVE BENJAMIN
Contributions: $124,609
(including $20,000 loan)
Expenditures: $135,317.51
Cash-on-hand: $55,211.38

Significant contributions
Friends of Jim Clyburn, $1,000
Campaign committee
Harvey Starr, $50
USC professor
Bob Wislinski, $125
Political consultant
John Yancey McGill Jr., $500
Lobbyist
Richard A. Harpootlian, P.A., $1,000
Law firm
Dick Harpootlian, $1,000
Former S.C. Democratic Party chairman
Vic Rawl, $100
Candidate for U.S. Senate
Zeke Stokes LLC, $100
Political consultant
Marvin Chernoff, $744
Marketing guru
Jack Van Loan, $100
Five Points Association
Christopher R. Hart, P.A., $500
Law firm of the state representative
David Swinton, $100
President, Benedict College

Significant expenditures
Red Carpet Communications (advertising), $5,000
Daybreak Consulting (consulting), $425
John Adams (signage), $3,470.22
Richard Quinn & Associates (consulting), $5,269, $10,000, $1,630, $1,470, $10,000, $502, $6,439
Political Election Service (consulting), $4,900
New Partners (consulting), $5,000, $10,000, $10,000
Democracy in Action (database management), $400

STEVE MORRISON
Contributions: $147,958
(including $40,000 loan)
Expenditures: $142,012.41
Cash-on-hand: $33,786.09

Significant contributions
Tomlin & Co., $1,000
Development company
Don Tomlin, $1,000
Developer
Mary Balbach, $50, $100
Director, United Way
Barry Walker, $500
Irmo Town Council member
Dick Riley, $1,00
Former governor
Robert Royall, $500
Former director, S.C. Department of Commerce
Barbara Rackes, $100
Consultant
Kelly Payne, $100
Candidate for superintendent of education

Significant expenditures
Ferillo & Associates (consulting), $22,905.11, $9,202.24, $14,802.45, $5,602.28, $18,975, $10,937.78, $3,359.11
Trevett’s Direct (mail), $1,777.86, $3,369.64
The Rackes Group (consulting), $3,943.52, $3,252.14, $100, $2,000, $6,750

AARON JOHNSON
Contributions: $1,471.50
Expenditures: $1,225.71
Cash-on-hand: $628.94

Significant contributions
The White Mule, $250 (in-kind)
Bar/music club
Todd Morehead, $5
Editor, Columbia City Paper
New Brookland Tavern, $5, $175 (in-kind)
Bar/music club

Significant expenditures
Facebook (advertising), $28, $1.19

SPARKLE CLARK
Contributions: $210
Expenditures: $372
Cash-on-hand: $102.12

Significant contributions
None.

Significant expenditures
None.

We’ve found ourselves perplexed over the recent months regarding the interesting political flexing going on by Steve Benjamin‘s campaign for mayor of Columbia. The man ran as the Democratic nominee for attorney general in 2002, and counts among his strongest supporters top Midlands Democrats. And yet, it’s not a cut-and-dry situation.

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.

Municipal politics can be strange endeavors. Not the least of which in Columbia, where loyalties get all sorts of crossed up. That’s certainly coming to a head this year, as incumbent Mayor Bob Coble has already announced that he will not run for another term. One, if not the main reason, is the momentum of local attorney Steve Benjamin. As early as spring 2009, a number of civically-engaged people we knew in the city were looking at a Benjamin candidacy as the next best move for Columbia.

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

We’re still waiting on reports from a good amount of candidates, including Sen. Vince Sheheen, Dwight Drake, Lt. Gov. André Bauer, Rep. Nikki Haley, Steve Benjamin and others, though Sheheen’s put out a news release saying he has $958,000 on hand. Let’s see how everybody else is doing.

MULLINS MCLEOD
Candidate for Governor (D)
Contributions: $102,561.76
Expenditures: $54,446.08
Cash-on-hand: $366,805.62

Significant contributions
J.R. Battle & Co., $3,500
Company of Rep. Jim Battle
Albert McAlister, $200
Former S.C. Democratic Party chairman
Ronald Motley, $500
Attorney
LaNelle Barber, $500
Wife of former Rep. Robert Barber
Law Office of Jim Brown, $500
Former nominee for state representative
Denny Hamlin, $500
NASCAR driver

Significant expenditures
WGG Consulting (consulting), $1,000, $2,000
McIntosh Consulting (consulting), $3,750×3

ROBERT FORD
Candidate for Governor (D)
Contributions: $41,250
Expenditures: $21,416.20
Cash-on-hand: $41,327.72

Significant contributions
None.

Significant expenditures
None.

ROBERT BOLCHOZ
Candidate for Attorney General (R)
Contributions: $167,791.32
Expenditures: $30,647.83
Cash-on-hand: $137,643.49

Significant contributions
Charlie Condon, $3,500
Former attorney general
Bart Daniel, $3,500×2
Attorney
Burnie Maybank, $1,000, $2,000
Former director of the Department of Revenue
Ray Tanner, $500
USC baseball coach

Significant expenditures
Drummond Communications Group (consulting), $2,000×3
Palmetto Community Development Services (consulting), $1,500
Slicker (Web design), $2,500, $3,000

DAVID PASCOE
Candidate for Attorney General (D)
Contributions: $500
Expenditures: $0
Cash-on-hand: $2,600

Significant contributions
None.

Significant expenditures
None.

STEVE MORRISON
Candidate for Columbia Mayor
Contributions: $72,185
Expenditures: $46,644.50
Cash-on-hand: $27,815.50

Significant contributions
James McLawhorn, $250
Columbia Urban League
I.S. Leevy Johnson, $1,000
Former state representative
Luther Battiste, $200
Former Columbia city councilman
Bud Ferillo, $250
Consultant
Bart Daniel, $250
Attorney

Significant expenditures
Ferillo & Associates (consulting), $6,125.65, $20,293.10, $11,854.86
The Rackes Group (consulting), $2,070

It was with some pleasure that we found ourselves on the “Power 100” list created by the Capital City Clown. What makes him think that he’s somehow the arbiter of who is powerful in this state (beyond an ego that’s so large it’s devouring itself), we’ll never know. Evidently, our upstart operation caught the court jester’s attention again, landing in the “Dishonorable Mention” slot.

We could search and search for what the guy actually knows, but it would be easier to fill a tome with what he doesn’t. And really, it was an honor just to be nominated. The company isn’t half-bad, either, as we’re alongside Rep. Jimmy Merrill, S.C. Chamber of Commerce‘s Otis Rawl, SCBIPEC‘s Tom DeLoach, The State‘s Cindi Ross Scoppe, S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce‘s Frank Knapp and Columbia mayoral candidate Steve Morrison, among others. Not a bad crew to run with.

Damn, it seems like everyone and their mom is running for Columbia mayor. The latest entrant is local attorney and Nelson Mullins partner Steve Morrison. It was assumed that he would be battling with front-runner Steve Benjamin for the same votes. That’s now a for-sure assumption.

Per his announcement, Morrison said:

I am announcing today that I will be a candidate in next April’s city election for Mayor of Columbia.

Columbia has been my home since finishing law school here in 1975. I have spent years of my life contributing to our community, the way many people do who want their neighborhood and city to be a good, safe place to raise a family, enjoy life, and earn a living. Gail and Gregory and I have found a special home with you here in Columbia.

That is why we have spent so much of our personal time giving back to Columbia. My service as board chairman of the Columbia Urban League, the Columbia Museum of Art and the presidency of the Historic Columbia Foundation and board service at Benedict College, Allen University, Edventure and the Central Carolina Community Foundation and chairing the United Way Campaign has enabled me to learn about the needs of citizens in all our neighborhoods.

While I have not been involved in traditional politics at the local or state level, I have spent years in public service. I approach the opportunity to serve as Mayor of Columbia from that vantage point, one of public service over politics as usual.

Morrison will find himself in a considerable hole. Most power brokers and grassroots activists in Columbia have already committed to Steve Benjamin, the odds-on favorite to win the race. But, with Morrison in the mix, it will become a lot more interesting.

Per Saturday’s The State, Columbia attorney Steve Morrison is eying a run for mayor, joining the current four-person race, including the heavyweights — attorney Steve Benjamin and City Councilman Kirkman Finlay III. Morrison is a partner in the influential firm of Nelson Mullins.

From the way it looks, if Morrison gets into the race, it wouldn’t be good for Benjamin. According to the story, Morrison is involved with the “minimally-adequate” school funding suit, the Urban League, the Columbia Museum of Art, Historic Columbia, the NAACP, the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council, and on. That pretty much cuts directly into the civic-minded Democratic voting base in the city, which it looked like Benjamin was going to ride to a significant win.

Though Finlay basically gave a throwaway quote, it can only mean good things for him if Benjamin and Morrison have to go toe-to-toe over the same voters and the same contributors, not to mention the endorsement battle for community leaders. Benjamin has the upper hand, it appears to us, because of recognition for his earlier work and his 2002 campaign for attorney general, but the race would become much tougher if Morrison threw his hat in the ring.