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Published: Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 / Updated: Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 09:15 AM

District 16 candidates on the stump

Election Day is a shade over two months away and Mick Mulvaney and Mandy Powers-Norrell, candidates for the S.C. Senate District 16 seat, have already begun ramping up their campaigns.

Last week, Powers-Norrell, a Democrat, held a volunteer rally in Lancaster to build support. More than 100 people came to volunteer, Powers-Norrell said, from as far as Fort Mill and Kershaw. On Sept. 4, Powers-Norrell will have a ribbon cutting on her campaign headquarters in downtown Lancaster, a place where she and her volunteers can organize and run the campaign that she calls a grassroots effort.

She hopes to use her volunteer base to help reach voters in the large district, which spans the majority of Lancaster County and a portion of York County. Relying on volunteers is essential, she added, to helping her keep campaign costs down.

"We are really putting our volunteers to work," Powers-Norrell said. "I've got to use volunteers, so we worked really hard on making plans for voter contact. As far as the money race goes, I can't compete with the money a big developer has."

Mulvaney, a Republican, is an Indian Land resident. He is a real estate developer and currently serves as the House District 45 representative. Mulvaney has held two recent campaign events in the southern end of Lancaster County and has nine more such meetings planned throughout the district before the election.

The events are not fundraisers, he emphasizes, but a way for voters to get to know him and his stand on government issues.

"It's an introduction but it's also about the issues. It's not political rhetoric or red meat just to get people fired up, it's 'Lets talk about jobs, let's talk about energy, let's talk about spending,'" Mulvaney said. "I think there is an appetite out there for people to talk about issues."

Powers-Norrell, 34, is a Lancaster native who works as a bankruptcy attorney and serves as the city attorney for the City of Lancaster. She prides herself on her Lancaster County roots and is a strong proponent of public schools. She has spoken out frequently against public school vouchers, something she plans to continue on the campaign trail.

Mulvaney agreed that the campaign will focus on education, but added that taxes and spending, energy and jobs are important issues.

"Those are the areas where the state government can really touch people's lives," Mulvaney said. "If state government does its job properly, it can help people improve their own conditions. If it does its job poorly, state government can make our lives worse. Since this is modern American politics, however, my fear is that we end up talking about non-issues, such as where my kids go to school or how my opponent's sixth-great grandfather hosted George Washington."

Powers-Norrell is familiar with the Lancaster area but has already begun visiting other parts of the district, including Fort Mill and Indian Land, to get better acquainted with the communities and meet with voters. She'll be making more trips and doing some door-to-door campaigning as the election approaches, she said.

One of her favorite moments on the campaign trail so far has been meeting with a family in Fort Mill, she said, and enjoying a cold slice of watermelon on their porch.

On visits like these, Powers-Norrell said she isn't interested in talking about hot button issues.

Instead, she said, it's about listening to the voters' concerns.

"I talk about what the people want to talk about and I try to do more listening then talking," Powers-Norrell said. "I'm trying to do more of a listening tour than an announcing tour."

Mulvaney also looks forward to "grassroots" campaigning, he said, including door-to-door visits with voters and opportunities to discuss political issues with small groups.

"Personally, I am always looking for more opportunities to discuss issues with folks, especially in small groups," Mulvaney said.

"Senator Jim DeMint taught me that a group of even six dedicated, issues-driven voters can be more important than speaking to groups of hundreds of disinterested people. I definitely think he is correct on that."