Rhodes: Nothing etched in stone for runoff
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John Rhodes reacts
John Rhodes reactsMyrtle Beach mayor John Rhodes said Tuesday’s election results were not a surprise.
“Everybody has predicted it was going to be a runoff because of the five candidates in the mayor’s race and everybody predicted it was going to be between McBride and myself, so it will be a basically a rematch of 2005 and we’ll see how it goes from there, but I’m just very excited to have the support that I’ve received.“
Rhodes and his supporters watched the election results come in at the Ted C. Collins Law Enforcement center on Mr. Joe White Avenue. Rhodes and his supporters anxiously watched the votes come in as precinct captains walked in with their cases.
As the precinct numbers showed up on the projector, Rhodes spent a lot of his time on the phone reciting the numbers. He and his wife Teri sat just behind the first row with a clear view of the tally. Mrs. Rhodes spent most of her time writing as the numbers came in and whispering in her husband’s ear. At one point, she kissed him on the cheek and put her arm around his should and said, “We’re going to be all right.”
And as the last two precincts were reported, the crowd sitting around Rhodes cheered.
After seeing he did not get the percentage needed to avoid a runoff, Mrs. Rhodes said, “150 votes shy.”
Unofficially, Rhodes was 154 votes short of the 2, 694 he needed to avoid a run-off.
But, he said he’s happy to have the votes and support he did get. “Well I think we were doing a little celebrating because we were very happy with the votes we received, to have 48% of the vote when there’s five candidates running for a position is, is pretty strong and I was very, very proud to have that kind of support of people in our city that feel like the job I’ve done is what they want to continue with.”
Rhodes said the next step is to come up with a plan to beat Mark McBride, his opponent in the run off and former mayor of Myrtle Beach.
“Well we’ll get together and we’ll map out a plan and see how we can get more votes to the polls in our favor, first I’d like to ask the people that supported the candidates that were not going to be in the run-off to reconsider and hopefully they would look at me as being the candidate that they want to come and support.”
Rhodes said it will take a couple of days to map out a plan that will be effective and ads, “there’s nothing etched in stone.”
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Reader Reactions
I totally agree with you on the crime issue. It’s up to the Mayor,police and the court to finally get tough with the thugs who are menacing our area. More checkpoints ,for DUI, Driving without license and/or insurance and looking for people who have outstanding warrants would be a start.Let’s clean up the Grand Strand and I don’t mean the beaches!!!
There is nothing wise about a so called leader that does nothing about crime. The bike rally issue is has been over for a while and the bikers have sworn to never come back. They say they will boycott Myrtle forever and yet Rhodes, McBride and all the other geniuses only want to talk about bike rally issues , taxis and imaginative tourism ideas rather than talk about the number one core issue which is out of control violent crime. But they must all be wise old men and are to cowardice to talk about crime.
So old wise one please do tell us how you older and wiser gentlemen expect to make Myrtle Beach a clean, safe, fun family friendly town if you cannot even stop the out of control crime. How can they be adding a board walk if they cannot even keep the blvd, safe. What a joke all of you are running from the real core issue. Politicians always seem to find a way to talk about their pre rehearsed scripts rather than actually talk about reality and the biggest problem facing the Grand Strand. Yes you guessed it, C R I M E. VIOLENT CRIME GONE WILD. EVERY DAY CRIME FEST. LOCAL MAYHEM ON A DAILY BASIS
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH—————STOP THE DAILY MAYHEM———- DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT CRIME
It’s amazing how the losers can always spin their poor results and try to make it appear they won. After getting blasted in Va. and NJ. last night the dem. talking heads were all over the airways today telling America it wasn’t a repudiation of what’s going on in Washington. Mayor Rhodes will easily win the run-off and continue to improve life in MB. Pres. Clinton never won 50% of the vote.Congrats to the incumbent Mayor and keep up the good work.
Rhodes denies having anything to do with dirty politics, but I am willing to bet that we are going to see a whole lot of dirty slimy politics coming from the Rhodes machine. It is too bad they do not put as much energy into fighting crime as they do political posturing. The only thing Rhodes has had going for him is the elderly retirees fear of the motorcycle tourist returning. But that scare tactic is over once the people realize that the bike weeks are truly over and a Hugh Majority of motorcycle tourist say that they will never return to the Grand Strand, especially not Myrtle Beach. So the future of Myrtle Beach is really about creating a balance between tourism and local quality of life both of which cannot happen until someone puts an end to all the violent crime. Mark McBride will do just that and he will also protect the retirees as well as the working citizens. He will do a better job than Rhodes and will probably do even better than he himself has done in the past. So the future is looking better already.
Maybe we will also find out if there was any illegal campaign contributions as well. I think the people want to know the truth. Maybe they should re-think the need for an investigation.
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