Political stump stays firmly rooted

Democrats, voters, cloggers still flocking to Galivants Ferry

GALIVANTS FERRY — Back before the Internet or television news or radio, even back before women could cast a ballot, this was a key stop for any Democrat courting the local vote.

Oddly enough, it still is.

While the Galivants Ferry Stump is no longer the only way for candidates to communicate with voters along this stretch of the Little Pee Dee River, one family has kept the tradition alive for 132 years by shaping it into something else: a festive party that kicks off the Palmetto State's political cycle every two years.

South Carolina is no longer a blue state, but the stump still starts with bluegrass. And it's one place along the political trail where cloggers outnumber bloggers.

Several Democratic hopefuls served up speeches Monday, but they almost seemed beside the point. Anyone can listen to politicians talk 24-7 on cable news or YouTube these days, but these kinds of personal encounters don't come along as often.

"It's incredible that with all the different ways of communicating, we're still very popular," said Christy Holliday Douglas, the fourth generation of Hollidays who worked to organize the stump. "I think we're even more popular now because it's really hard to see someone face to face and shake hands with them, eyeball to eyeball, like my daddy used to say."

Still, change has been a constant part of the tradition. For instance, politicians early on stopped standing on tree stumps (the origin of the term "stump") in favor of wagons or soapboxes. Even the cypress stump used as a podium here is only about 8 years old.

While only Democrats are allowed to speak, Douglas says people of all political stripes are welcome: "Democrats,

Republicans, independents, frustrated, unknowledgeable ..."

This year's event featured U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who paid tribute to Rep. John Spratt and U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn. She also blasted Republicans: "They've yet to find a problem that cutting taxes for millionaires won't solve."

She said Spratt "has forgotten more public policy than most of us will ever know" and that Clyburn "is successful in Washington because he is kind and decent and good and not despite that."

First District congressional candidates Linda Ketner and Ben Frazier also made brief speeches, and Ketner's supporters blanketed the crowd of about 1,000 in signs and lapel stickers.

Only one statewide race is on the ballot this fall, and this year's crowd was just a fraction of what it has been in the past.

Clyburn acknowledged the crowd seemed a little off, but he added, "We are in a rebuilding mode. Just watch us next year when we win back the White House."

This year's stump also came on Biker Week, and a few loud ones rumbled by on U.S. Highway 501, their mufflers temporarily competing with the speakers.

While failing to show at the stump no longer may doom a political career, it's still a tradition few want to see fade away.

Jack Bass, an author and College of Charleston professor, said, "I don't know another like it anywhere. I don't think there's anything quite like it in the state — or close to it."

Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771 or rbehre@postandcourier.com.