In South Carolina, Dean banking on volunteers and black vote

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Until the first week of December, the Howard Dean campaign had no office here, not even a telephone number, and the state Democratic Party, when asked for names of Dean supporters, could conjure up one.

The former Vermont governor leads the field of Democratic presidential contenders elsewhere, but in South Carolina, he ranked sixth in a recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Volunteers are still seeking signatures to get him on the ballot for this state's Feb. 3 primary. When the candidate spoke at a hotel here Dec. 7, the sign outside said, "Today's lunch, carved BBQ pork," with no mention of Dean.

None of this fazes Nicky T. Wilson.

The 29-year-old seminary student volunteered for the Dean campaign a week ago, doubting polls that indicate a northern Democrat is a tough sell in a state where the Confederate flag flies in front of the state Capitol. "I'm always leery of polls; you have to consider who's doing them," Wilson said.

Wilson, an African-American, is the missions and outreach coordinator at a local Baptist church and a commuting student at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

But in whatever spare time he can manage between now and February, he plans to volunteer for Dean, gathering signatures to get Dean on the ballot and writing letters to Iowa and New Hampshire primary voters.

Volunteers like Wilson provide the muscle for every campaign, waving placards, making phone calls to potential voters, organizing fund-raisers, and performing the other labor-intensive tasks that make a campaign run.

"This campaign has really been built on the hard work of the volunteers," said Dean spokeswoman Delacey Skinner. Even before Dean had an organized presence in South Carolina, she said, volunteers put together and staffed a booth at the South Carolina State Fair, and they have been distributing yard signs and bumper stickers for months.

The importance of African-American voters like Wilson was underscored at the Dec. 7 rally, where Jesse Jackson Jr. endorsed Dean and a sign proclaiming "African-Americans for Dean" was positioned prominently at the lectern.

Of more than 400 people attending, about one-quarter were black, according to a count by Dean's staff. As many as 50 percent of the voters in the first-in-the-South primary are expected to be African-Americans.

Wilson, who is single and the father of a 6-year-old girl, said he wasn't just swayed by Dean's personality. He called Dean's stands on such issues as health care and economic expansion "right on point."