What were the voters thinking?

We have all read news stories where we wonder what people were thinking when . . . . Well, as we all know, the primary races in South Carolina this year were, to put it politely, rather full of garbage. Accusations of racism, claims of sexual relationships, slurs, verbal garbage piled so deep that it made Chicago politics look like a shining example of cleanliness.

But, Father Orthoduck must admit that he did not expect one of the results that voters delivered. He wonders whether this result has to do with voting for anyone unknown and new over anyone known and old. If so, if the story below is true, it may be a cautionary tale about voting for “the devil unknown.” This copy of the story is from Fox News, but it is being well reported by every news organization. On the other hand, it is possible that this candidate is indeed better than any of the known candidates in South Carolina. Given the primary races this year in South Carolina, Father Orthoduck could be convinced that this just may be the best candidate available.

But, at the very least, Father Orthoduck will argue that we should all read up on any candidate for which we vote.

Surprise South Carolina Democratic Senate Nominee Refuses to Step Aside

Alvin Greene, a relative unknown, shocked Democrats in the Palmetto State on Tuesday night by winning the chance to face Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican, this fall, but the state Democratic Party has asked him to step down pending a felony charge against the candidate.

The surprise South Carolina Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate has turned down a request from the state party boss to step down.

Alvin Greene, a relative unknown, shocked Democrats in the Palmetto State on Tuesday night by winning the chance to face Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican, this fall with a commanding victory over state lawmaker Vick Rawl in the Democratic primary.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Carol Fowler on Wednesday asked Greene to withdraw from the race for U.S. Senate because of recently revealed court records which show the 32-year-old unemployed veteran was arrested last November in Columbia, S.C., for allegedly showing obscene photos to a college student.

However, Greene told Fox News he has no intention of ending his campaign.

“The Democratic Party has chosen their nominee with over 60 percent, and we have to stand behind their choice,” Greene said during a telephone interview from his home in Manning, S.C. “We need to be about the issues. We need to be pro-South Carolina, not anti-Greene.”

Fowler pressed Greene in a statement released earlier Wednesday to get out of the race.

“Today, I spoke with Alvin Greene, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, and asked him to withdraw from the race,” Fowler said. “I did not do this lightly, as I believe strongly that the Democratic voters of this state have the right to select our nominee. But this new information about Mr. Greene has would certainly have affected the decisions of many of those voters.”

Other staffers at the state party are baffled at Greene’s win.

“As far as we know he has done no campaigning,” state party spokesperson Keiana Page said. “We have no idea how he won.”

Greene told Fox News he has never run for public office before, has no staffers and ran the campaign entirely on his own.

Greene is also being shunned by national Democrats, telling Fox News that neither the Democratic National Committee nor the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have contacted him in the wake of his big win.

National party officials didn’t return calls Wednesday evening seeking comment for this story.

Court records indicate that last November, Greene allegedly showed graphic photos to a woman at the University of South Carolina and tried to follow her to her dorm room. He was charged with “disseminating, procuring or promoting obscenity.”