AP: SC Sen. Bright readies for possible US Senate run

[itshappening]

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — State Sen. Lee Bright thinks America is at a vital crossroads and must make the right decisions to survive. The Spartanburg County lawmaker's political career seems to be at a similar juncture, as he decides whether to cash in on his conservative credentials and take on U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in the 2014 Republican primary.

Bright hasn't definitively announced he is running. But he has thrown out plenty of signs. He spent the winter touring the state, holding public hearings for his bill eliminating the need for a permit to carry a gun in public. He said Graham's criticism of a filibuster by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a darling of tea party and other conservative Republicans, nearly pushed him over the edge. And he was the first guest of Glenn Beck as the talk show host is auditioning people to beat Graham in 2014.

"We've got a choice. Either we're going to have a nation or we're not," Bright told Beck. "If we don't get behind Rand Paul and what he is trying to do and the Ted Cruz's of the world, I don't think we can survive. We're at the tipping point. People have realized they can vote away the possession of others. They can even get a free cellphone. We're at a point if we don't make our stand now, there will be nothing to stand for."

A look through Bright's legislative record leaves little doubt of what's important to him. He has been a sponsor of the "Life Begins at Conception Act" in each of his three sessions at the South Carolina Statehouse. He supports a bill allowing firearms and ammunition made and kept in the state to be exempt from any new federal gun laws. He sponsored a resolution calling for South Carolina to refuse any money from the federal economic stimulus bill passed at the start of the Great Recession.

Bright's ideas haven't had a lot of success though. Just one of the 60 bills he sponsored has passed. That measure added misconduct to the reason workers can be denied unemployment after losing their jobs.

Graham has never been admired by South Carolina's most conservative Republicans. But he also hasn't faced much of a challenge from within his party either. When Strom Thurmond retired in 2002, it was the first open U.S. Senate seat in the state in 36 years. Graham didn't face a single challenger in the GOP primary that year. In 2008, he easily beat retired orthodontist Buddy Witherspoon, getting 67 percent of the primary vote.

Graham also has nearly $5 million in his campaign bank account, meaning anyone who wants to challenge him will have to raise money fast with just over 14 months to go before any primary.

Bright's career has risen fairly fast. He served on a school board in Spartanburg County before his first run for the state Senate in 2004. He lost that race to the incumbent John Hawkins by 31 votes. He hasn't lost a race since.

In 2008, Hawkins stepped aside. Bright was endorsed by then-Gov. Mark Sanford as he took on a challenger supported by Hawkins. Bright finished second in the primary by about 600 votes, but took the runoff by almost 200 votes. In the 2012 primary, Bright got the endorsement of Gov. Nikki Haley as Hawkins, who supported Haley's Democratic opponent two years earlier, tried to get back his seat. Bright won that race by 1,500 votes.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...sible-US-Senate-run-4414474.php#ixzz2Pi58AgYL

 

[Spoa]

He needs to announce soon so we can hit the ground running. There are still some people who would rather have someone else, but if he runs, then conservatives can quickly coalesce around him.