How Democrats are voting in Greenville, S.C.

Seeing Edwards quite differently was Katie Roberts, a Greenville interior designer.

“I can’t stand Edwards. I think he’s a total scoundrel. I don’t trust him,” Roberts said after she voted at 11:45 AM at St. Matthew’s Methodist Church in Greenville’s affluent precinct 17.

“Clinton? I think she’s a little harsh, she’s bad for Medicare, doctors don’t like her, and I don’t like the way she addressed health care.”

But, she said, “Barack is strong. We need a big change. He’s intelligent, he has visions that are really different from what we have right now. I think he’s fantastic.”

Tom Curry / msnbc.com Robbie Bell cast his vote Saturday for Obama

Robbie Bell, who sells designer furniture on a web site and is a still-life artist, also voted for Obama in precinct 17.

“There’s a vision there that we need desperately,” he said. “He’ll take a more personal approach to the decisions he makes, unlike our current president.”

Committed against Hillary Clinton
Asked whether he was committed to Obama from the start, Bell replied, “No, I wasn’t. I was committed to someone other than Hillary Clinton. Even though Bill Clinton was a tremendous president, all the arguing and bickering and pointing fingers — gosh, I just couldn’t stand four or eight years of that. That’s the way it would be” if Hillary Clinton won.

He added, “She started the argument with Obama. It’s her kind of politics and it’s just truly scary.”

Asked about the possibility of Clinton winning the nomination, Bell said, “If she’s the nominee and she’s the only choice, I think a Republican will win.”

Referring to his wife Stephanie, Andy Arnold said, “We are divided household – I’m an Obama supporter and she’s a Hillary supporter. We both see why the other person has chosen the person they’ve chosen.”

Tom Curry / msnbc.com Andy Arnold, chairman of the Greenville County Democratic Party and an Obama voter

Arnold said, Obama “does present a realistic chance to bring folks together, to being new people to the party. I’ve seen it anecdotally, locally. I also do believe Hillary Clinton is a bit divisive; Whether it’s her fault or not, that’s not my point. My point is what will work come November.”

White voters biased?
He added, “my question about him as a candidate is whether white voters in certain parts of our country still some harbor some types of difficulty” with voting for a African-American man.

He thinks “Clinton is a tad bit stronger in Greenville” than Obama because “your Democrats in Greenville are probably more conservative than in the rest of the state.”

Giving an entirely different reason for voting for Obama was Greenville precinct 17 neurosurgeon Dr. Frank Espey.

He cited the controversial book by political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.

The other candidates, Espey said, “are afraid to oppose the Israel lobby. The Israel lobby controls Congress. Obama is the only person who wants a change. I voted for Obama because he’s going to make a change.”

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

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