Mark Sanford ended up winning by a 53% to 47% margin. I had predicted that whoever did win would win by a larger difference. It was interesting to watch the retuns knowing that Greenville had not yet been added to the total. Almost 70,000 votes cast certainly made a difference.

It also appears that my fears leading up to the election were unfounded. Bunk Johnson was the only County Council member to lose a seat. The school board remained pretty much the same which was no surprise - though I was suprised by the margins in some of the races.

Nationally, things went about as I expected. That isn't to downplay the significance of the election. Consider the history making aspects of this event. You might say, "Well, sure, the Republicans took control, but not by much." Remember, this is a mid-term election. Historically, the Republicans should lose seats.

The only place the Democrats can really claim a victory is in the governor races. Even there there were many more Republicans up for reelection than Democrats. The elephants had more to lose. More importantly for us, OUR governor was not in the Democrat tally.

Locally, here in Greenville, the Republican Party needs to take note of the changes. The Democrats were much more organized and I believe ran an effective campaign. It shows in that they did pick up a seat on the County Council. Some may say it was their "last hurrah" but I don't think so.

2004 is not so far away. The time to begin preparing is today. The opposition is well financed and motivated. The Republicans have the issues - as shown by the solid vote against the penny tax increase. The next order of business is to make sure that we have the personalities to winsomely communicate those issues.

Have fun today, I won't be around to watch what happens on the site. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!