Polling consistently has shown that Sheheen is leading the Democratic race. An Insider/Statehouse Report poll released Friday reported Sheheen had a nine-percentage-point lead over Rex, 26 percent to 17 percent, with Ford in last place at 12 percent. Forty-four percent of Democrats remain undecided, the poll found.

Other polls have said Sheheen has a wider lead. A recent Rasmussen poll, for instance, put him in the lead with 30 percent of the vote.

Heartland for Sheheen

That lead is felt firsthand walking Columbia’s Main Street. Democrats interviewed who said they have made up their minds overwhelmingly favored Sheheen.

“I like (Sheheen’s) focus,” said Jocelyn Sanders, 56, manager of the House of Fabrics on Main Street, who said she has paid close attention to Sheheen’s career in the Senate. “He stood up for the stimulus money, and that is something we desperately needed. We need someone who can recognize our state’s needs.”

Last year, Sanford tried to block $700 million in federal stimulus money from flowing to South Carolina before being overruled by the state Supreme Court. Sheheen and other lawmakers worked to get the money to the Palmetto State.

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As they finished up lunch Wednesday, Courtney Davenport, 29, and Anthony Lawrence, 38, said they too were backing Sheheen.

“Sheheen’s focus is education, which is my top issue,” Davenport said. “Businesses are not going to come here if the education (system) isn’t in good shape.”

First, we have witnessed a style from our statewide leaders that emphasizes confrontation over cooperation. An approach that has promoted press conferences over constructive meetings. An approach that has resulted in bitter feelings instead of a spirit of working together for the common good. We have seen pigs in the State House, petty name calling and an almost total lack of communication. We can do better.

Second, we have witnessed scandal and embarrassment in our statewide elected officials unparalleled in modern state history. We have seen two statewide elected officers charged with crimes, a governor charged with numerous ethics violations and inexplicably rude or embarrassing statements made by several prominent officials. We should expect better.

Now more than ever, we need a governor who will bring people together to begin to solve the tremendous challenges our state faces. We need a governor who has a proven record of working with, not against, other leaders in our state. We need stability and civility.

Mr. Sheheen also has the broader vision, and a deeper understanding for state policy issues besides education. If Dr. Rex decided to run for governor and expanded his agenda to match the office, Mr. Sheheen had an extensive agenda and decided to run for an office large enough to match his vision.

As one of the most passionate and consistent legislative advocates for giving governors more authority to run the executive branch, Sen. Sheheen devised the plan to simultaneously transform the Legislature so that it could provide the oversight of state agencies that our state never has had.

Few people understand the ins and outs of our tax system better than Mr. Sheheen, perhaps the only lawmaker who has written a detailed proposal for an overhaul. And he makes less ambitious promises about funding essential programs, which is to say he is more realistic about our state’s finances and the Legislature’s interest in increasing revenue.

In fact, while it would be difficult in any state but this one to consider either candidate liberal, Mr. Sheheen is the more centrist of the two — and that’s important not just as a general election calculation but also because our nation and our state are at risk of being torn apart by the extremes; we dare not reject any opportunity to nominate good candidates who are closer to the political center.

Sen. Sheheen is blessed with experience, knowledge and wisdom beyond his years, which puts him in an unusual position: He is a solid candidate who offers a youthful, energetic alternative to the moribund politics that have consumed our state. He projects a positive and even inspirational image that would go a long way toward changing what the rest of the world thinks of us and what we think of ourselves. Voters in the June 8 Democratic primary would do our state a service by nominating him.