A Matter of State
The next time you’re down in the Vista with friends, pay attention to the name of the establishment you’re in, especially if it’s a name like MacDougall’s. It just might decide whether you get to meet the next president of the United States.
The three-year-old restaurant and bar at the corner of Senate and Lincoln streets has quickly become a required stop on the presidential campaign trail over the past few months.
John Edwards, Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee as well as the senatorial campaign for Lindsey Graham have all stopped by to host a happy hour meet and greet. Graham has endorsed John McCain for president and didn’t miss the chance to mention his name to a crowd of supporters.
One can’t help but notice the timing of the visits to MacDougall’s.
Huckabee celebrated here after making fun of Edwards’ $400 haircut on national television. Months later, Huckabee would finish second in the Iowa straw poll.
Edwards used the restaurant as a place to rally the locals to march into the state Democratic Convention’s dinner with him.
It was where Brownback declared that he intended to remain “the tortoise in the race,” and it provided a perfect place for Graham to test his ideas on immigration reform before returning to Washington where his bill would be shot down in the U.S. Senate.
Other restaurants have tried to gain momentum off MacDougall’s success this campaign season by wooing candidates. However, none have had the impact that only MacDougall’s seems to provide.
McCain has stopped by The Clubhouse. Since then, the campaign has nearly run out of money and he lost his top political advisers.
Mitt Romney opted for Liberty Taproom and Grill just across the street from MacDougall’s. Romney has struggled to get out of the single digits in most South Carolina polls.
Maybe where you campaign does have a lot to do with it.
So why has one restaurant attracted so many candidates vying for name recognition in the state which holds the first primary in the South?
Maybe it’s the convenient location right next to the convention center that lures candidates over to quench their thirst and get a feel for the locals.
But a look into the life of the restaurant owner may uncover the biggest reason why this Vista bar is quickly becoming a political magnet.
“I’m just a businessman,” is all you’ll get for an answer from owner Steve MacDougall.
A third-generation American, MacDougall is the grandson of Scottish immigrants who left their homeland and headed for the U.S. in search of a brighter future. His grandparents are just two of the countless number of immigrants who went through New York’s famous Ellis Island immigration station in the early twentieth century.
His father, Ellis MacDougall, is credited with creating the South Carolina Department of Corrections in the 1960s and later the department of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina.
Most South Carolinians have probably spotted the name on the way to Charleston; exit 187 on I-26 is home to a state prison named for the elder MacDougall.
Ellis MacDougall died in 2002 and was awarded the Order of the Palmetto by the governor, the highest honor bestowed to a South Carolinian.
Needless to say, growing up in a political family made an early impact on Steve. At age 9 he helped campaign for Jimmy Carter’s White House run, something everyone told MacDougall he was crazy for doing.
By the time he arrived at USC in the late ’80s, MacDougall was already a single father and needed to find a good-paying job to pay for school and support his son.
His father helped him out with a job on the security detail for the state senate, a job he fell in love with and held until he finished college in 1992 with a hotel, restaurant and tourism management degree.
“I worked a hard day for somebody else,” MacDougall said of working his way through college. With the support of family and friends, he purchased the vacant space behind LongHorn Steakhouse and turned it into his dream.
Since the revitalization of the Vista back in the mid-1990s, MacDougall said he couldn’t have gotten a better spot, right down the hill from the State House.
As next year’s presidential election looms overhead, MacDougall now calls the historic arts and entertainment district the “political” Vista. Red and blue lights were wrapped around the trees in the median of Gervais during the state party conventions earlier this year and the growing political showmanship in the Vista reminds MacDougall just what an important state this is for wanna-be presidents.
“We’re pretty strong here, not everybody has a right to that,” MacDougall said of the tradition first in the South primaries South Carolina hosts. One might use the old adage “As South Carolina goes, so goes the South,” though in recent elections that hasn’t held true.
Hosting both Democrats and Republicans, MacDougall hides his political preferences better than the recipe for that tasty pimento cheeseburger.
But while he hasn’t put his finger on just one candidate, MacDougall is passionate about several issues shaping the election.
“I’d love to see some help for the little guy, the blue collar worker,” he said. “I’ll try and help anybody in their path to change the world.”
MacDougall also wants to see the health and welfare systems in this country improved.
He was honored to host the Republican National Committee for a debate-watching party when the GOP presidential candidates debated at the Koger Center in May.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” MacDougall said of the opportunity to host campaign rallies. “It’s a great opportunity for me as a restaurant owner to give back.”
As for trying to make his bar into Columbia’s newest political hotspot, MacDougall seems excited about the idea and hopes more of his former colleagues wander down from the hill.
“I love to see old friends from the State House,” MacDougall said.
The walls of the restaurant are already starting to tell the story themselves with newspaper articles, photos and a signed certificate from Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer naming a state prison after his father. The hallway to MacDougall’s office is littered with campaign signs and causes like Ed in ’08.
When asked if he ever points to the men’s room and says, “That’s where John Edwards used the bathroom before dinner,” MacDougall just laughed and shook his head.
“My doors are open.”
