South Carolina has been a solidly red state since 1980. In fact, it’s one of the reddest. But now, state Democrats are trying to use their high turnout during the South Carolina presidential primary to push the idea that, after seven consecutive GOP wins, this state will be up for grabs in the general election.

And by “Democrats” I mean the Orangeburg T&D — a newspaper that really puts the “Democrat” in “Times and Democrat.”

More than 532,000 people voted in the Democratic primary, setting an all-time record and besting the party’s 2004 primary total by 240,000 votes. The Democratic turnout was 87,000 more than in the Republican primary vote a week before. Across the state, 444,183 votes were cast in the Republican primary, down by more than 100,000 votes from the 2004 Republican primary. Actually, 2004 was the first presidential primary vote for the Democrats other than one in 1992. The South Carolina Democrats had opted for a more complicated and time-consuming caucus system to choose delegates pledged to presidential candidates.

Commenting on the impressive turnout of voters, Carol Fowler, chairperson of the South Carolina Democratic Party said, “I think it’s just wonderful, I think it’s a great recommendation for our candidates.” Fowler continued,” South Carolina is a state in which Republicans have outnumbered Democrats by a large margin in presidential politics for well over a decade. [...]

According to exit polls, a little more than a fifth of voters considered themselves independents.

In Spartanburg County some 34,000 people voted in the 2004 Republican primary, while just 2,234 voted in the Democratic contest, only about 6 percent of all primary votes cast across the county. 25,458 voted in the Jan. 26 Democratic primary in Spartanburg County, while 28,368 voted in the Republican Primary. [TOM TURNIPSEED - Orangeburg T&D]

The only thing more ridiculous than the content of this story is that it was written by Tom Turnipseed, the flaming leftist who fought a losing war with Lee Atwater. It appears he’s even using the article to promote his law firm’s website, which the paper links to at the end of the story. Even better, the e-mail address listed on the site is t&a@turnipseed.net — get it, T&A? How unfortunate.

Not only did he quote Fowler on just about every stupid thing she said, but it looks like he never even bothered to speak with GOP Chairman Katon Dawson. He included a quote from Spartanburg County Democratic Chair Liz Patterson, but nothing from her Republican counterpart Rick Beltram.

Although, to their credit, Beltram probably doesn’t know how to use a phone. It’s rumored that one time someone tried to teach him, but they gave up when he kept burning his hand answering the toaster. A similar thing happened when Beltram tried to use a computer, except that time he supposedly blew up his mailbox. I think if he ever tried to drive a car, he would tear a whole in the Universe.

As for Turnipseed’s claims, I guess if Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination and his “movement” didn’t burn out faster than Clay Aiken’s music career, there’s a chance he could motivate enough support to have a fighting chance here. But that’s a big “if” and it’s probably the only “if.”

There are a lot of traditionally red or blue states that could swing in November, but I don’t think South Carolina is going to be one of them.