AIKEN, S.C. (AP) -- Most people in South Carolina didn't vote for Barack Obama and didn't want any part of his stimulus money, but it appears to be helping one hard-hit area fight through the recession.
About $1.6 billion of the package was used to create 3,100 temporary jobs in a poor, rural area near the Georgia line.
The president of the chamber of commerce in the solidly Republican city of Aiken says he's convinced that money has helped keep the area's economy from crumbling.
Republican Gov. Mark Sanford and others in the red state have railed against the stimulus and said the package would ultimately leave the economy in worse shape.
However, the jobs seem to have staved off even higher unemployment in counties where jobless rates hover around 20 percent.
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