Women’s consulting firm key player in Gingrich’s S.C. victory

The biggest winners in last weekend’s S.C. Republican Primary may have been Leslie Gaines and Ruth Sherlock.

Prior to last Saturday, Gaines and Sherlock had spent the better part of their time at their fledgling political consulting company running themselves ragged – fundraising for this candidate, marketing for that one, scheduling for a third. “We decided to hit reset,” Gaines said, co-owner of the Greenville-based Sherlock & Gaines Consulting Group.

The women wanted to be a full-service firm that ran campaigns from top-to-bottom, instead of pieces of campaigns for a variety of candidates. “We wanted to be a driving force and run the whole show. We were planning to retool and start 2012 with a bang,” Gaines said.

That bang came to them.

It was a phone call from Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s campaign, asking the pair – who previously had done some free-lance work for Gingrich – to serve as the lead S.C. primary consultants for the former speaker of the House.

They said yes.

And within four months, Gaines and Sherlock were garnering Palmetto State political kudos that would make any consultant salivate: winning a S.C. presidential primary. Sherlock & Gaines is the first woman-owned firm to play such a big role in winning a Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, a state often knocked for its paucity of women lawmakers and women in political roles.

“We celebrate with these women. It’s monumental for this state and indicates not only where South Carolina is moving but where the nation is moving with more women in politics and more women leading,” said Mary Anne Jacobs, president of the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics, which trains women to run for office. (Sherlock is a board member.)

Others aren’t so sure that Sherlock & Gaines has made a breakthrough. Other S.C. politicos and consultants say they are yet to be convinced the pair are ready to be top-tier consultants. Their success with Gingrich may have been a fluke, competing consultants – whose candidates lost – mutter.

The pair are undeterred by their critics.

“Gingrich was a great candidate, but we put together the ground game he needed,” Gaines said.

‘They gave 150 percent’

Early on, Gaines and Sherlock saw there was much to do.

“We talked with the campaign to assess their South Carolina needs, and we realized they needed everything,” Gaines said.

The two – along with Gingrich’s S.C. director, Adam Waldeck – soon set up a 14-person team, including 10 women.

That group included:

• Caroline Vanvick, who was as an Upstate director, contacting GOP leaders and helping get out Gingrich voters on election day

• Gerri McDaniel, who ran a phone-banking operation in Horry County and surrounding areas

Joanne Jones, in Charleston, who helped with Gingrich’s surrogate program to ensure the former speaker’s daughters, sisters and allies were visible in key parts of the state

• DeLinda Ridings, who stayed on the road, reaching out to voters

“It was not intentional,” Sherlock said. “We don’t believe in any kind of (gender) quotas. We looked for the people who could do the job the best. And it just happened that many of them were women.”

Gingrich aide Waldeck said Sherlock and Gaines were instrumental in the candidate’s S.C. operations, scheduling and fundraising efforts.

“They gave 150 percent. They know a lot of people across the state,” said Waldeck, who stayed in touch with Gingrich and his national team, coordinating Palmetto State efforts with those in other parts of the country. “It was a team effort, and it worked.”

Headed to Nevada

The women are modest about their success, giving much of the credit to Gingrich and his message.

“There’s so much unrest in the electorate,” Sherlock said. “People don’t have jobs. People don’t have insurance. They’re looking for the American Dream again and Newt said, ‘We can do this. We can bring it back.’ ”

They say the two S.C. debates, where Gingrich proved he could tap into voter frustration, were game changers. “After that first debate, we felt a movement coming on. We could feel (Gingrich) winning people over,” Gaines said.

Both women, each with a teenage daughter, say they are pleased to have played a role and hope to inspire other women. “I want (our daughters) to know they can do whatever they want to do,” Sherlock said.

Their success has the phone ringing too, with requests to run more S.C. races.

Those will have to wait, however.

The pair head to Nevada Monday, helping to run Gingrich’s campaign there.