[R]OCK HILL, S.C.— While MSNBC’s “First in the South” Democratic Candidates Forum on Friday was a relatively tame affair, a battle broke out between supporters of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton before the event even started.
It commenced a few hours before a special edition of “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” which was to be hosted in front of Byrnes Auditorium – the location of the Friday forum. Before Matthews went live, supporters from both camps gathered by the TV stage to hurl slogans at each other.
Clinton volunteers were fired up, holding homemade signs and chanting so loudly into a megaphone that a Winthrop University student named Harrison was stirred awake from a nap in his nearby dorm.
“HRC! HRC! HRC!” one supporter shouted while a diverse crew of South Carolinians for Clinton repeated her chants.
“Sisters for Hillary!” she then called out into the megaphone as Clinton fans cheered and shouted.
Harrison was intrigued by all the noise and left his dorm to check out the scene, finding a group of Sanders and Clinton supporters engaging in a deathmatch of decibels.
The Sanders fans were also passionate, but they didn’t have a megaphone and were therefore softer in their chants of “Feel the Bern!” and “Bernie Can’t Be Bought!”
There were also fewer Sanders crusaders, and most of them were white. There were one or two ponytails spotted in the crowd too, though one might have belonged to Paul Heintz of Seven Days, who was in town to cover the forum.
A calm blonde dog stood among members of Team Sanders, a “Bernie” button affixed to his collar.
Harrison, who said he studies exercise science at Winthrop University, took in the scene for a bit, before saying that neither Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders excited him.
“I’m a Republican,” he said before heading out, perhaps back to bed.
While Harrison didn’t pick a side, the delegation of Clinton supporters were clearly louder and more passionate. They continued their chants throughout “Hardball,” and were so boisterous that at one point Matthews interrupted his show and told them to take it down a notch.
The afternoon slogan battle in front of the university’s Byrnes Auditorium ended with a Clinton victory, and state polls are pointing to the likelihood of a Clinton win in the primary battle in South Carolina, too.
In this largely Republican state, Clinton seems to be quickly shoring up her support with Democrats. She was favored by 71 percent of respondents in a recent Winthrop University poll, with Sanders notching a mere 15 percent.
“I don’t think that the results indicate any sort of antipathy between black voters and Senator Sanders,” said Dr. Adolphus Belk Jr., a Winthrop professor who specializes in U.S. racial politics. “It’s just a matter of lack of familiarity.”
While Sanders has 35 paid staffers and four field offices in the state, he remains relatively unknown to Southerners. Sanders aides said he plans to open two more offices in the coming days, in Rock Hill and Anderson.
Clinton has two field offices in the state, as well as 20 volunteer phone bank locations, according to a press release.
Sanders appears to have a lot of ground to make up between now and the Feb. 27 primary, but his staff is undaunted about the hours, politicking and ground game that will be required to win.
Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, said the plan for South Carolina is no different than the other early voting states: Go out and talk to lots of people.
South Carolina has a different demographic makeup than Iowa and New Hampshire. The Palmetto State has a large population of African-Americans, a constituency that Sanders has not had much experience with representing a state with a population as white as glass of USDA certified organic 2 percent milk.
In the Winthrop poll, Clinton’s numbers with African-Americans grew to 80 percent, while Sanders’ shrunk to 8 percent.
“Since I have been here in South Carolina over the last couple of days, people keep telling me that African-American voters in South Carolina just don’t know you well enough,” Maddow told Sanders.
Weaver said that if the campaign successfully reaches out to African-Americans, the message will stick.
“What you’ve seen in this campaign, over and over again, is where voters know Bernie the best, he does the best,” he said.
Sanders’ advisers say there is room to make headway. They point to the 35 percent of respondents in the Winthrop poll who said they could betray their allegiance from Clinton.
“We still have a lot of people in the state who are undecided,” said Christopher Covert, Sanders’ South Carolina state director. “Even people that are convinced right now they are going to vote for [Clinton], our job is to persuade them, educate them about the senator and show them a contrast.”
As part of the next push in South Carolina, the campaign has made a big radio ad buy. Residents can expect to hear Sanders’ maxims hitting the airwaves next week.
The Forum
The slogan battle between Sanders and Clinton supporters occurred around 4:30 p.m., a few hours before the forum began.
After a Secret Service sweep of Byrnes Auditorium in the early evening, 3,000 Sanders and Clinton supporters filed into the building. No O’Malley signs, shirts or stickers were spotted.
Sanders arrived in a red Chrysler van about 20 minutes before the start of the event. His wife, Jane, was in tow along with state and national advisers. Phil Fiermonte was behind the wheel, as always.
Sanders appeared more comfortable Friday than in the first debate in Las Vegas. At the Wynn Resort, he stumbled over questions about his record on guns and even fumbled a line about income equality, one he has repeated dozens of times.
In his talk with Maddow, Sanders was passionate and polished talking about issues that matter to black Democrats – mass incarceration, unemployment and policing strategies.
Asked what prep work Sanders did to refine his message for the South, spokesman Michael Briggs replied with “Prep work?” and laughed.
Sanders got loud applause throughout his conversation with Maddow, including when he first walked onstage.
“You have a lot of fans here,” Maddow said, reacting to the applause. When Clinton came out for her chat with Maddow, a lot of fans made themselves known.
Sanders’ newest stump line, which he tested before Maddow Friday and continued to use Saturday in public appearances, indicts Republicans who have worked to roll back provisions of the Voting Rights Act as “cowards.”
“They’re afraid of a fair election,” he told Maddow, getting his biggest applause of the night. “We have a real crisis in this country, and we have got to pass legislation — maybe even a constitutional amendment that says that everybody in America who is 18 years of age, or older, is registered to vote. End of discussion.”
In the spin room after the forum, Weaver made sure to hit the “coward” line again on behalf of his boss.
“I think it was a really great event tonight,” Weaver said, beaming. “I think Bernie had a chance to lay out his vision.”
Sanders also felt good with his performance, and he rewarded himself with a juicy steak after the performance before hitting the hay, advisers said.
While the Sanders vision was indeed laid, and the senator seemed to thrive with the forum structure, America didn’t pay much attention.
There was no live blog on the New York Times website, and Twitter traffic was focused on other world affairs.
While hundreds of reporters from across the world packed into a majestic ballroom to cover the first debate in Vegas, only 50 journalists or so filed stories from the spin room here, a converted gymnasium.
When Martin O’Malley entered the spin room, he received a burst of attention he rarely does, and he seemed happy having cameras shoved in his face.
But he was almost immediately overshadowed when the Rev. Jesse Jackson made an almost divine entrance. He seemed to float around, pausing to take selfies with adoring fans. He never stopped smiling.
Jackson has a good rapport with Sanders, who endorsed both of the reverend’s presidential campaigns. Sanders has also met with Jackson this campaign season, and a Jackson endorsement of Sanders would be a big boost to the campaign, especially in states like South Carolina with many African-American Democrats.
“Excuse me, I want to go say ‘Hi’ to Reverend Jackson,” Weaver told VTDigger after spotting him in the spin room.
Weaver walked towards Jackson, but was cornered by another reporter, and was forced to answer a question.
When Weaver finally broke free, he looked for Jackson again, but the famed civil rights leader was gone. For the sake of Weaver, hopefully not to meet with “HRC!”
