Former staffers for South Carolina Democrat Linda Ketner, who narrowly lost a 2008 bid against Republican Rep. Henry Brown, are mounting an effort to place her name on this year's Senate ballot as an independent candidate against Sen. Jim DeMint.
Following unemployed veteran Alvin Greene's surprise victory in last week's Democratic primary, Ketner supporters say DeMint opponents need a more credible choice for the fall campaign.
"If there were a viable candidate on the ballot, DeMint and another viable candidate, I don't think we’d be having this conversation" about Greene's win, said Ketner backer Doug Warner, who's helping organize petitions for a campaign. "The people of South Carolina deserve to have a choice."
Warner, who served as Ketner's finance director in 2008, and Tasha Gandy, her former treasurer, have begun an effort to collect the 10,000 signatures needed to file for the Senate campaign by July 15.
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