S.C.'s Democratic nominee mysterious as his victory

MANNING, S.C. — Alvin Greene never gave a speech during his campaign to become South Carolina's Democratic nominee for Senate. He didn't start a website or hire consultants or plant lawn signs. There's $114 in his campaign bank account, he says, and the only check he ever wrote from it was to cover his filing fee.

During a three-hour interview, the unemployed military veteran could not name a single thing he'd done to campaign for political office. Yet more than 100,000 South Carolinians voted for Greene on Tuesday, handing him nearly 60 percent of the vote tally and a resounding victory over Vic Rawl, a well-known former judge who has served four terms in the state Legislature.

"I'm the Democratic Party nominee," Greene said at his father's rural home in central South Carolina. "The people of South Carolina have spoken. We have to be pro-South Carolina."

Things have gotten stranger since Greene's win.

First, The Associated Press reported that Greene faces felony obscenity charges for allegedly showing pornography to a University of South Carolina student last November. Greene says he's "not guilty."

Then, the state's Democratic Party chairman called on him to withdraw from the general election. And House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. — who has questioned whether Greene might have been planted in the race by Republicans — is calling for federal and state investigations.

"Here is Alvin Greene, unemployed, he goes into the Democratic headquarters and pays $10,000. That's no little bit of money for an unemployed person," Clyburn said.

A spokesman for incumbent Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican, called the suggestions of a Republican plant "ridiculous," and Greene dismisses suggestions that he is anyone's pawn.

The whys of Greene's victory are as mysterious and baffling as his candidacy. Some explain it as a fluke attributable to his name coming before his opponent's in the alphabet. There's no way of knowing whether large numbers of Republicans crossed over to vote for the weaker of the Democratic candidates, because voters don't register by party in South Carolina's open primary.

The controversies barely faze Greene. He says he has no intention of withdrawing and is challenging DeMint to a September debate.

Greene lives with his ailing father, James Greene, 81, on the outskirts of Manning, a crossroads town of 4,000. He has no cellphone and no computer, but uses the one at the public library.

"I check my e-mail, like, it varies, maybe — I'm more, I mean — two or three times a week," he says. "I prefer the telephone. I'm a little old-fashioned. I prefer the telephone."

Greene, 32, sighs heavily as he speaks, pausing often during long meandering monologues.

The University of South Carolina confirms he graduated with a degree in political science in 2000. The Pentagon confirms he served in the Army and Air Force National Guards, and in the Army. It also says he was granted the Air Force Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Korean Defense Service Medal.

Details are hazy about his discharge from the Army in August 2009, six months before the end of his three-year commitment, according to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon does not confirm whether service members are discharged honorably or dishonorably. Greene says he "was honorably discharged from the Army, but it was involuntary. Things weren't working out. ... Same thing happened in the Air Force. It's a long story in both services."

Greene says he put up his own money in March for the $10,400 campaign filing fee, an assertion doubted by many in Manning. He has said he paid the fee by saving up two years of his service pay.

At the time he filed, it was not widely known that he had been charged with obscenity. Still, he says, Carol Fowler, the state's Democratic Party chairwoman, tried to talk him out of running, saying he would not be able to afford the staff required to run a serious campaign.

Fowler's spokeswoman confirmed Greene's account.

A campaign flier lies on the table. "Satin green," he says proudly. "It's pretty. I like that." He won't say who printed it or where it was distributed. He cautions that it's his only copy and should be handled with care. Asked how many fliers were printed, he says "hundreds," and pauses.

"Maybe thousands. Hundreds. Maybe a hundred. I don't know exactly."

Before Election Day, he says, almost no one paid attention to him. Now phone calls repeatedly interrupt the conversation: reporters, television producers, fans.

About 11 p.m., Greene's brother — who lives next door — arrives to catch the local news.

Greene "shining a negative light on our state" is the lead story. The news report says he has not entered a plea or been indicted on the obscenity charge. Greene asks, "I have not been indicted? Indicted? What does that mean?" His brother explains that a charge and an indictment are different. He nods.

"I'm on the not-guilty side of things," Greene says.

"I have to be. I mean, I mean, I mean. I have no comment, I mean." Greene's attorney, a public defender, declined to be interviewed.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.