Congressman Jim Clyburn rarely resists an opportunity to promote South Carolina State University.

When South Carolina was in a neck-and-neck competition with Alabama to continue to hold the first Southern Democratic primary here, South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin asked Clyburn for his help in persuading the U.S Senate Rules Committee to keep the primary in South Carolina.

One day, during a meeting in New Orleans, Clyburn recalled, he "half-jokingly" said to Erwin, "If we win this thing and we get a debate, we ought to consider going to S.C. State."

He insists that he wasn't really serious -- well, maybe just a little bit. Clyburn said he was pleasantly surprised when he found out that Erwin and S.C. State President Dr. Andrew Hugine were literally working behind his back to bring the debate here.

"Joe made the call," Clyburn said. "He had talked to Hugine about various things. Hugine, he just kept the secret. I can't believe he was able to keep a secret like that. I was blown away and very honored. Of course all of this took place before I became Whip. ... Joe Erwin put it on his mind. He was willing to be helpful. He did as good a job of convincing the Rules Committee as I'm getting credit for."

The debate will be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Theater on S.C. State's campus Thursday, beginning at 7 p.m., giving Orangeburg and South Carolina overwhelming exposure and a huge voice in the season's political process.

But why South Carolina? Why Orangeburg? Why now?

"This all got started really with the Republican success with the 'Southern Strategy,' which was essentially to get an indication of how solid the South was going to be in sewing up enough Electoral College votes and then they would only need 40 percent of the vote," said Dr. Blease Graham, a professor of political science at the University of South Carolina and a scholar of Southern and South Carolina politics for more than 30 years. "Sort of, as South Carolina went, so went the South.

"That hasn't been true for the Democrats. They haven't been winning nationally. South Carolina developed a reputation as the robin of spring for the South such as Iowa is in the West, New England is in the Northeast and Nevada is trying to be in the far West."

To understand South Carolina's role now, one must understand the history of party relationships in the state, Clyburn said.

Until 1948, the real election in South Carolina was the Democratic primary. Whoever won that primary usually went on to win the presidency. During that time, the Democratic Party was made up of whites, and blacks were Republicans.

"My parents were Republican," Clyburn said. "The Republican Party in the '40s and early '50s was basically blacks. The Democratic primary was like a private club, white only. In Elmore v. Rice, (Holly Hill native George) Elmore, a taxi driver in Columbia, challenged this in court and won. The court ruled that the Democratic primary had to open itself up to black people. This started a surge, really.

"When I went to S.C. State in '57, I thought of myself as a Republican and held on to that thought through my junior year."

Clyburn was among the blacks who shifted to the Democratic Party as a number of disagreements along racial lines caused another surge. White Democrats were unhappy with the court decision; Black Republicans began to relate to the Democratic party.

"These things came to a head in '64," he said. "There was too much integration here. That began the next big surge. Whites that were former Democrats were going to the Republican Party in droves."

What does this history mean for Democrats and Republicans in South Carolina today? The debate coming to Orangeburg and the primary being held in South Carolina signifies that after all of these things, the Democratic Party here is now regaining its footing, Clyburn said.

"We had all of these things where people left their party in droves; there was a black-only party, white-only party. White people, white Democrats, are saying, 'This is our party too.' We are learning to live with each other, operate in a biracial" environment, he said. "It solidifies that we do have a viable two-party system. That's as it should be.

"This primary in South Carolina and this debate at S.C. State and the General Assembly inviting yours truly to speak to the Senate -- ... that says to me the Republican Party in South Carolina is maturing just as the Democratic Party is maturing and headed in the not-too-distant future to a real true two-party system in South Carolina."

In hindsight, South Carolina still gets eight electoral votes. But, as seen with the last presidential election, eight votes could have made a difference.

"These days and times, every vote counts," professor Graham said. "The media exposure; we get to see these candidates in a South Carolina context. It's a revealing showroom. South Carolina is among four early states with a sizeable racial minority. South Carolina's diversity is perceived in the rest of the national challenge."

Clyburn said Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller, in a conversation with him, expressed his concern that, with all of the media here, the focus would not be on the good things going on in Orangeburg, but its history and the racial climate here in the '60s.

Clyburn said such conversations this week are necessary to some degree.

"No matter how you open up a campaign, it's how you close that campaign that makes a winner," he said, comparing the process of putting on a national presidential debate.

"What I'm trying to do with this primary, this debate, the transportation center at S.C. State, the science program at Claflin, I'm trying to build a platform that will launch a new and magnificent future in the Orangeburg community."

"I feel about Orangeburg just like I feel about Sumter, where I was born," he continued. "I think I have a responsibility here in this Congress to do what I can. To move Sumter (and) Orangeburg forward; Charleston and Columbia where I now live, to move them forward. I feel I have an obligation. My job is to turn all these things into positives, and I want to be able to look back on my career and say we made a difference for the better. I think it's important that we do these things."

Charlene Slaughter can be reached by e-mail at cslaughter@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5529. Discuss this and other stories online at TheT&D.com.

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