Economic woes weigh heavily on S.C. Democrats

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Greg Johnson, a 53-year-old librarian, looks at the oscillating financial markets and wonders what it all means to his eventual retirement. Jan Varn Avant, a college instructor, sees health-care costs soaring. Chelsea Fogle, a college student who’s studying to be an accountant, worries about her job prospects next year.

Such concerns are increasingly on the minds and lips of South Carolinians these days, and voters are scrutinizing the candidates’ economic proposals as Saturday’s Democratic presidential primary approaches.

Their message is clear: “The economy is a big deal,” said Amara Ransom, a finance student at Claflin University in Orangeburg, and neither the stimulus plan emerging from Washington nor anyone’s long-range multi-point plan is going to sway their votes easily.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton returned to South Carolina on Thursday to deliver a speech on the economy at Furman University and began running ads touting her experience as a decision-maker.

Aides think that in tough times, voters will be more attracted to the “experience” that Clinton pitches than to rival Barack Obama’s themes of hope and change.

Still, a new McClatchy-MSNBC poll Thursday showed Clinton running well behind Illinois Sen. Obama, with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards third.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who was never a factor in South Carolina, or anywhere else, said he’d quit the race today.

Clinton proposes an economic stimulus plan that could cost up to $110 billion and includes help for housing and energy needs. Obama is pushing his own $75 billion plan, which includes tax cuts for most consumers as well as $250 “bonuses” to Social Security recipients.

Edwards has a somewhat smaller plan, and he wasn’t enthusiastic about the stimulus proposal, calling it “another example of Washington deserting working people and the middle class.”