Local Chairman: Obama Will Win Charleston County

CHARLOTTE — South Carolina by most accounts is safely in Mitt Romney's corner for November, but the Charleston County Democratic Party chairman thinks Charleston County will again buck the trend.

Chairman Richard Hrick made the comments following a South Carolina delegate breakfast at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.

"Charleston County is a Democratic county," Hrick said. "Barack Obama carried Charleston County in 2008 and in 2008 Vincent Shaheen defeated Nikki Haley in Charleston County."

The county council is also controlled by Democrats and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, one of the nation's longest-serving mayors, is a Democrat. Obama carried the county with 54 percent of the vote in 2008.

Republicans, however, control the legislature and Gov. Haley is considered a rising star in national Republican politics. Romney edged out Newt Gingrich in Charleston County during the GOP Presidential Primary by 2,000 votes. That gives Republicans reason to believe he'll do well in November.

"People in this county have been four years of this President, and that includes higher food prices, higher gas prices, and they are losing their homes," said Charleston County Republican Party Chairwoman Lin Bennett. "This isn't 2008; this is going to be a Romney county in 2012."

There has not been extensive polling in South Carolina this election cycle.

Democrats will gavel their convention to order at 5 p.m. today. President Obama will accept the party's nomination Thursday evening in front of a crowd of 70,000 at Bank of America Stadium.