COLUMBIA -- The governor's race started off this summer so sleepy that many wondered whether there even was a campaign. But it has lurched to life with Gov. Mark Sanford and state Sen. Tommy Moore trading barbs aplenty.
Sanford had been on television nearly nonstop since the June primaries with ads talking about his accomplishments.
He could well afford that after winning his primary in June and heading into the general election with $4.3 million. Moore won his primary handily, too, but he stumbled away from the contest with $149,330 in his campaign fund. It left him unable to challenge claims Sanford made in his ads.
That's made it the "quietest fall in a state election year that I ever remember," Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen said. "This has been a sleeping pill."
But now Moore has more money and his campaign manager Chris Carpenter says the ads will be up nonstop until the Nov. 7 elections.
Moore came out swinging with an ad airing in Columbia, Greenville, Charleston and Florence that talked about Sanford cutting $500 million from public education spending.
Sanford's campaign manager Jason Miller questioned how Moore came up with that figure and said Moore was taking the campaign straight into the gutter.
Sanford's campaign, however, was quick to respond with ads talking about Moore supporting 16 tax increases during his 28 years in the Legislature. That included what the Sanford campaign and the state GOP have called a proposal for the biggest tax increase in state history.
"We've got to defend ourselves," Miller said. "We have no choice but to set the record straight."
But Sanford's campaign likely was "just sitting around waiting for it," Thigpen said of the claims in Moore's ads.
Sanford's image likely won't suffer as he tries to turn voters against Moore, Thigpen said. Being on television with positive ads for months leaves a strong impression.
And if the ads turn people off and keep them from the polls, that mostly would affect independent voters that Moore needs.
"This may be well be a day late and a dollar short on Moore's side," Thigpen said.
Moore has said can't match Sanford in spending and has been hitting the streets and meeting with groups around the state to gain support. Sanford's been on the road, too, at out-of-the way festivals as well as GOP meetings.