2 words change race for district

COLUMBIA -- Congressman Joe Wilson taped a faxed copy of the famous image of a man standing before the tanks on Tiananmen Square to a prominent spot behind his campaign headquarters desk.

The person who sent it used a marker to draw an arrow pointing at the unidentified man and scribbled "Wilson" in the air above him. The fax is one of several hundred thousand messages Wilson received in the days and weeks after he called President Barack Obama a liar during his September health care address to Congress.

Since then, Wilson has been the default face of the conservative movement, an unlikely hero, to some, who captured the frustration in the air as the country sits on the cusp of historic change.

He calls his outburst a "town hall moment," bringing to mind images of angry protesters crashing congressional campaign stumps last summer. Others see it as an outburst that shamed an already embarrassed South Carolina.

Wilson, a Republican, apologized to the president within an hour, but wouldn't apologize again on the House floor. As a result, his colleagues reprimanded him.

As the drama played out in Washington, a new story line was developing in South Carolina. Campaign donations for Wilson and his little- known Democratic opponent, Rob Miller, reached the millions -- an unheard of amount.

Big money and national support for both sides changed the political picture in the local congressional campaign that in the past rarely generated much statewide interest and almost none nationally.

Like Wilson, the past six months have given Miller a new edge

"I am absolutely a real threat," Miller said. "Make no mistake: I am going to win in November."

Two little words

Those two words -- "You lie!" -- changed Wilson's life and the race for the 2nd Congressional District. Since, 2001, Wilson, who lives in Lexington County, has represented the district, which stretches from the Lowcountry to the Midlands.

Now, Wilson works from a larger-than-ever headquarters with a super-sized campaign team that he said is 10 times larger than he's had for past elections.

He has bucked national fundraising trends. While other congressional accounts have tanked alongside the economy, Wilson's numbers have spiked, according to analysis by OpenSecrets.org.

Depending on the day, Wilson is one of the most popular Capitol Hill politicians in cyberspace with about 14,000 followers on Twitter and almost 24,000 Facebook fans.

By contrast, to many, the face of Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has less than 1,200 Twitter followers and about 8,000 fans on Facebook.

"It's very humbling," Wilson repeated several times.

Notoriety swings

Miller's campaign war chest bulged with more than $1 million in donations 48 hours after Wilson's outburst for one marked reason: He's not Wilson.

Today, Wilson has raised about $3.4 million to Miller's $2 million. That's three times the $1.8 million Wilson and Miller spent combined battling for the 2nd District seat in 2008. And this campaign has barely started.

Miller, of Beaufort, (with about 1,700 Twitter followers and 5,600 fans on Facebook) is a small-business owner who spent 13 years in the Marine Corps.

He said the biggest difference between this campaign and the race two years ago is that he now has paid staff. Miller was outspent 2-to-1 in 2008, according to campaign spending reports. Still, he came close to toppling Wilson with 46 percent of the vote to Wilson's 54 percent.

Miller said he had a better showing than any Democrat in the Republican-drawn district in 20 years.

People support him because he is focused on South Carolina, small business and family, Miller said. The public has responded because he talks to people, not over them, and his message is simple and focused, he said.

"I am not looking to be some national figure."

Man about town

In recent interviews, Miller wouldn't go off script. Wilson showed no hesitancy and was at ease before a reporter's tape recorder and notebook.

Wilson has had a lot of recent practice. He's been on TV and radio from Columbia to Las Vegas. He's taped campaign messages for candidates from California to Arkansas and he's spread the conservative message at the request of the Republican National Committee and other national groups.

He said he is up against national "leftist" groups that are trying to defeat him.

"Large unions have already made enthusiastic contributions to unseat me," he said.

His campaign is in full swing, although practically speaking, he and Miller have been campaigning since the outburst.

Wilson's "Joe Means Jobs" was his official kick-off. He served hamburgers at a Wendy's in Irmo and talked Washington politics with workers at Thermal Engineering in Columbia.

"I do not take the voters for granted," he said. "I do not assume they support me. I do not assume they know what I've done."

Eric McCarty, who lives about a block away from Wilson's new headquarters in West Columbia, said he worries the national attention will turn the election into a "dog-and-pony media show," where the candidates will play a game of one-upsmanship instead of addressing man-on-the-street issues.

McCarty pointed down the thoroughfare outside Cafe Strudel where he drank black coffee next to his puppy Angus. "I'm more concerned about the economy on State Street."

Covering the politics of the Lowcountry, South Carolina and the nation.