South Carolina: Possible Brown Foe Needs No Introduction
Rep. Henry Brown (R) could get a primary challenge in 2010 from Republican Carroll Campbell III, the son and namesake of the Palmetto State’s much-loved former governor.Campbell told the Associated Press this week that he was raising money but not yet ready to make a formal announcement on a Congressional bid. In recent weeks, Campbell has also been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in South Carolina. Brown, a four-term Congressman, had his toughest race yet in 2008, taking just 52 percent of the vote against businesswoman Linda Ketner (D), who is personally wealthy and dropped more than $1.7 million of her own money into the campaign. If Campbell is hoping that talk of a primary challenge might push the 73-year-old Congressman into stepping aside in 2010, Brown campaign adviser Rod Shealy said, Campbell is sorely mistaken.“He’s definitely planning to run, there’s no question,— Shealy said, adding that the Brown campaign made a decision in the final weeks of the 2008 race to hold back a half-million dollars in an effort to begin the 2010 cycle strong financially.