By Charles Swenson
Coastal Observer

Carroll Campbell's plate of eggs, bacon and toast grew cold, but the audience at the Kiwanis Club's weekly breakfast grew warm as he ticked off a list of federal stimulus items:
. 50 million to protect salt marsh mice in San Francisco;
. 8 billion for a high-speed rail line from Hollywood to Las Vegas;
. 248 million for furniture for the Department of Homeland Security.

They all prompted chuckles as Campbell questioned their value in reviving the economy.

The son and namesake of the former South Carolina governor, Campbell said he will formally announce this summer whether he will challenge U.S First District Rep. Henry Brown.

"It's only 14 months to the election," he said. By that he means the Republican primary, where the next congressman is likely to be selected.

Campbell has been speaking to groups around the district, gauging response to a pre-stump speech that castigates government spending and calls for new leadership.

After speaking to Kiwanis at Egg's Up Grill, Campbell was off to Myrtle Beach then returned to Litchfield Country Club to speak to the Rotary Club.

He said he's been pleased by the response. The deciding factor will be money, Campbell said. Brown has more than $400,000 on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Campbell called the federal stimulus package a cover for "big-government spending."

He said South Carolina lawmakers have supported "heavy-handed government spending," and noted there are more than 9,000 earmarks in the current budget.

Campbell said he would have favored tax cuts.

"Let people decide where they want to stimulate spending," Campbell said.

"It's apparent some of the Republican leadership in this country isn't doing its job," said Tom LaBaugh, a Kiwanis member.

"I'm not a politician. I've stayed out of politics by design because I don't like the ugly side of it," Campbell said, adding that his decision to make a run for office now was motivated by concern for the state's future.

He cited his late father's success in economic development during his two terms as governor, and said South Carolina needs to put its emphasis on growth in the high-tech sector.

"We need to create South Carolina 2.0," he said.

He said that can be done through the state ports. He served on the State Ports Authority commission for five years. He was removed by Gov. Mark Sanford, who cited Campbell's lobbying business as a potential conflict. Campbell said it was his opposition to privatization of the port system that led to his ouster.

The ports authority is a "quasi-state agency," Campbell explained, and unlike other Southeastern ports there is no state funding.

"Politics has gotten in the way" of growth in the ports, which a couple of years ago were the fourth largest handler of containers in the U.S., Campbell said.

He said South Carolina is losing business to Georgia, which is providing incentives for new customers.

In addition to attracting high-tech firms, Campbell said the ports are an opportunity to bring in manufacturing and distribution jobs for people who don't have the skills for high-tech jobs.

In Georgetown, the port director, David Schronce, wants local officials to press for $5 million from the federal stimulus to dredge the shipping channel through Winyah Bay.

That's federal spending that Campbell said he could support.  He said he would have two criteria for federal spending: does it benefit the local economy and does it improve the quality of life. "If the answer is 'no,' you probably don't need it," he said.

Campbell grew up in Greenville and lives in Charleston, but has roots in the Pawleys Island area.

"I have a particular fondness for this area of the world," he said.

He spent summers here, working at restaurants in Murrells Inlet and as a lifeguard at Litchfield Country Club.  His parents bought a home in DeBordieu, where his mother still lives. Campbell used to own and operate the Wendy's restaurants from Georgetown to Little River.

He said there's been some objections to his run for Congress from people who say a challenge to Brown would fragment the GOP. After losing the presidency in November, the party couldn't be much more fragmented, Campbell said. "We're going to have to change leadership," he said. "We need real change in Columbia and real change in Washington, D.C. We don't need good-old-boy politics."