There was a time when the Democratic Party ruled South Carolina. After the Civil War, the state was forced to follow the corrupt leadership of “radical Republicans,” many of them carpetbaggers from out-of-state who came to South Carolina to take advantage of the war-torn state. Bitterness from this era did not fade for more than a century. For the first half of the 20th century, most elections in South Carolina were decided in the Democratic primaries. Republican opposition was token at best.

As the national Democratic Party gradually turned more to the left-wing of politics, conservatives in South Carolina felt they no longer had a home in the party. The first to switch over was Sen. Strom Thurmond in the 1960s. Although Thurmond did not carry many others with him, he remained popular after switching parties, and his re-election campaigns were rarely seriously contested.

The election of Ronald Reagan brought the Republican revolution to the Upstate as many local Democratic leaders switched parties to avoid the “liberal” tag that was associated with the national Democratic Party.

While in the Lowcountry of South Carolina the Democratic Party seems strong, it is very weak in the Upstate, particularly in Pickens County. A small but hard-working group is trying to change that image. We wish them well, as all benefit when there are two strong political parties in an area.

But the recent actions of the state party have cast yet another shadow on the Democrats. In a time when the party should be enjoying itself as Republicans seem to be self-destructing in the state elections with racial slurs and accusations of marital unfaithfulness, conflicts of interest and campaign funding irregularities, the Democrats instead came up with an embarrassing situation of their own.

In the June 8 Democratic Primary, two men were on the ballot to see who would represent the party in November against U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint. One was a party insider, Vic Rawl. His opponent was a political unknown, unemployed veteran Alvin Greene.

Greene apparently had no funds for any advertising campaign. We do not remember seeing any advertising from Rawl either. Perhaps he was saving his funds for the major fight to unseat DeMint.

In the primary, Greene scored an amazing upset, gathering almost 57 percent of the vote. The fact that Greene’s name comes before Rawl’s in alphabetical order may have played as big of a role as anything.

Almost immediately after the election, it was revealed that Greene is facing criminal charges. Rawl spoke out, questioning the accuracy of the voting machines used. A re-vote was considered. Wisely, the state Democratic leaders passed on that option.

While we respect a political party’s right to choose the person who represents it in November, the time to oust someone from the ballot is before the primaries, not after. This should encourage the Democratic Party to investigate the background of potential candidates, preventing such an embarrassing situation to repeat.

Many of the more conservative Republicans have suggested that their party be more selective in allowing people on its ballots whose views to not match the party’s ideals.

Perhaps both parties will learn from this embarrassing situation.