Linda Ketner throws in the towel

Image by Photo courtesy of the Ketner Campaign

After a valiant effort, potential write-in candidate for Senate has decided to withdraw her name from the Senate race, as reported by the Post and Courier.  

A petition team was being formulated to get her name on the ballot against republican Jim DeMint. Ketner would have been an alternate choice for those unhappy with the Democrat nomination of the controversial Alvin Greene.

You can also check out her official statement at her website, LindaKetner.com

The full statement is below along with her first official remarks about the petition for posterity. 

 

7/5/2010
Dear Friends,

I am deeply grateful to the hundreds of you 
who worked toward petitioning me as an 
Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate and 
to the thousands who have already signed the
petition!  

When asked to consider such a candidacy, I 
agreed to think about it because I understand 
and respect the frustration and 
disappointment of the Senate primary, and of 
the general sad-state of government.  I share 
it.  We deserve better.

A key reason we were able to run a 
competitive 2008 campaign for Congress in 
the First District was you, our caring and 
engaged supporters.  You gave your time, 
talents and resources freely and 
enthusiastically as you are doing now in the 
petition drive.  

Also essential to our 48% showing was that 
we had the time, team and money to run that 
race very well.   During the weeks since the 
Petition Initiative was presented to me, I have 
exhaustively considered all the ways that we 
might mount a similarly strong campaign in 
the short 3 1/2 months left to us.  Sadly, I 
have concluded that at this late date, it's just 
not possible to assemble the team and 
resources we need to mount the effective 
campaign we all want.  

Bottom line:   yes, we deserve - and 
desperately need - better government, but a 
last minute campaign without essential 
resources won't get us that outcome.  

And so, with great appreciation and humility, I 
thank those who participated in this initiative, 
and announce I will not accept a petition 
candidacy.  I have asked that the drive be 
stopped.   

I know this is disheartening to those who 
worked so hard, but I hope you'll appreciate 
that you did something important.

At a time when people talk endlessly and 
seldom take action to right a political system 
that no longer operates in the best interest of 
the American people, you took action. 

Our country needs you, our state needs you, 
to keep working for a more agile,  more 
focused government led by elected 
representatives who are motivated to put 
Americans first, smart enough to find 
solutions, and who are not courtesans to 
special interests. 

This election, I hope that you will find 
candidates for whom you have respect and 
help send them to Columbia or Washington.    
I, with you, will continue to work on behalf of a 
responsive and responsible government; and 
will hope for future opportunities to serve our 
state.

With gratitude and respect,

Linda

information from petition organizers at 
ketnerforsenate.com
------------------

6/17/10
Hi folks,

With the announcement of the "Ketner 
Petition Campaign," my email, phone and 
Facebook messages have exploded.  If you 
don't know what I'm referring to, it's at 
ketnerforsenate.com

With no staff, my response time to your 
questions and comments will be slow and I 
hope you'll understand

I didn't initiate or know anything about this 
petition campaign until Tuesday evening.  As 
my friend and former Finance Director, Doug 
Warner, said in his quote from an article in 
Politico, "What we asked her is, 'Don't 
commit, start thinking about it, let us get the 
signatures and then we will decide.'" And 
that's where I am on it.

I appreciate what my friends and supporters 
are doing but I'm not going to comment on it 
right now.

I'm deeply appreciative of the interest, and if 
10,000 or more registered voters sign a 
petition, it's something I would take very 
seriously.

Of this I am sure ... none of us have the luxury
of giving up on good government. There's 
simply too much at stake.

Very best,
Linda

 

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