Those Democrats who could not abide Tillman's candidacy held an October meeting with 20 of South Carolina's 35 counties represented, and nominated Alexander Haskell for governor. The announcement that Haskell would run caused a closing of Democratic ranks against him, lest white unity be sundered. The "Charleston News and Courier", not always a friend to Tillman, urged, "stand by the ticket, not for the ticket's sake, but for the party and the State". Even most Conservatives would not support a bolt from the party, and Kantrowitz suggested that Haskell and his supporters hated Tillman so much that his nomination caused them to commit political suicide. The Haskell campaign reached out to black voters, pledging that he would not disturb the limited political role played by African Americans in the state, a promise Tillman was unlikely to make.