Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008

Myrtle Beach: Swing by, candidates

Putt-putt challenge to presidential candidates

Myrtle Beach tourism officials are inviting Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain to face off in the Myrtle Beach area - on a mini-golf course.

The putt-putt challenge comes after ABC commentator Cokie Roberts criticized Obama this past weekend for vacationing in "foreign, exotic" Hawaii instead of someplace like Myrtle Beach.

After hearing that, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce reached out publicly to Obama and invited him back to the Grand Strand. Then, it upped the ante by inviting both presumptive nominees to take part in the annual mini-golf championship held at the conveniently named Hawaiian Rumble in North Myrtle Beach.

"While I'm perhaps somewhat biased, I wholeheartedly agree with Cokie," chamber President Brad Dean said. "While Hawaii is a beautiful, exotic destination, what better way to symbolize the traditional American summer vacation than going to Myrtle Beach."

Roberts' comments came Sunday on ABC's "This Week" after she said Obama should not be vacationing in a "foreign, exotic" place like Hawaii when he is not dominating the polls.

"Going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii does not make any sense whatsoever," she said. "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii, and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should go to Myrtle Beach if he's going to take a vacation at this time."

The area's mini-golf courses are as ubiquitous on the Grand Strand as Starbucks in most cities and have been the subject of scores of travel articles over the past 20 years.

Bo Taylor, general manager of Hawaiian Rumble and director of the tournament, said he couldn't predict which of the candidates would do better, because he hasn't seen them play golf.

"Anybody can play as long as they play golf," he said.

"All it is is instead of having a set of clubs you have one club. You're just putting, you're not doing any other things."

The campaigns could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

Dean said both leaders should revisit the city that was a "launching pad" and "turning point" for their campaigns - referencing the presidential debates held here in January.

"There's no partisanship in travel promotions," he said.

ONLINE

Find more tourism tidbits in the "Inside the Industry" blog at MyrtleBeachOnline.com.