Alvin Greene: “I am also the best person to be TIME magazine’s Man of the Year”
Greene maintains that the answer is much simpler. “I am the best candidate for the United States Senate in South Carolina,” he says, hitting his talking points, as he is apt to do. “And I am also the best person to be TIME magazine’s Man of the Year.” He is speaking now, between trips to the kitchen, in the living room, while his 81-year-old father, James, Sr., barefoot under a flannel blanket, dozes on the couch. Suddenly, the television flashes Greene’s face, as a Fox News announcer teases an upcoming segment asking about the newbie’s “mental state.” This gets to Greene, who is tired of being treated by the press like a carnival act. “What about everyone else’s mental state?” he asks, before breaking into a chuckle. “It seems like things don’t apply to me. I’m the nominee, and 60 percent isn’t 60 percent anymore.”…
Greene says he paid the $10,400 filing fee with his own Army savings, and he never had professional help from outside. He wants to get on with building a campaign, based around his three issues: jobs, education and “justice in the judicial system.” But there are signs everywhere that he has no idea how to proceed. He says he is still waiting for the state party to provide him with money and infrastucture to launch his campaign, but the state chairwoman, Carol Fowler, says she will not back someone facing charges “for something truly distasteful.” When first asked if he would grant an interview with TIME, Greene responded by asking a question of his own: “Does the candidate get paid?”
