Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Interesting 2010 SC Governor's Race


The 2010 South Carolina Governor's race has been quite a race. It is still in progress with Nikki Haley and Congressman Gresham Barrett in a run-off. The race is classic South Carolina and GOP politics. A state senator supporting Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer called Haley and President Obama ragheads. Dick Cheney endorsed Congressman Barrett due to his vote for Bush's bank bailout. Haley was challenged to take a lie detector test. Haley called in Sarah Palin for an endorsement and to tape a robo call.

State Attorney General Henry McMaster, the candidate who talked about the need to bring jobs and prosperity to South Carolina, who stayed focused on how to move South Carolina forward and uplift it's citizens, and who talked of returning honor to the Governor's Mansion came in third in a four-man race. Henry, a competent, mature, mainstream, veteran SC leader fail victim to an unusual "teaparty" driven year in South Carolina.

Henry was endorsed by former Governor David Beasley. Beasley is the SC Governor who sacrificed his political career to remove the Confederate Flag from atop the SC State House. He was awarded the annual Profiles in Courage Award presented by Caroline and, before his death, Ted Kennedy. Beasley was invited to teach for a year at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard as a result. Henry was also endorsed by Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and The State, Columbia's daily paper.

My son Rob was Campaign Spokesman and Communication's Director for the McMaster campaign. Rob has worked in Washington on Capitol Hill, helped run a congressional campaign SC, served as Communication's Director for the SCGOP, and helped run a campaign for Chairman of the Republican National Committee. As a result of McMaster's loss, Rob is off to his next assignment as a top political communication's professional and operative. Someone will be fortunate to secure his services.

It will be interesting to follow the balance of the SC Governor's race. Even though Nikki Haley is very conservative, it is interesting and encouraging that South Carolina, a very parochial state and region, will be electing a women of Indian descent, a second generation immigrant, as it's Governor. Nikki will become an immediate star on the national GOP scene. The Deep South continues to change, albeit slowly.

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