Sheheen answers 10 questions

Questions, I’ve learned in more than 20 years of writing, never hurt anyone. It’s the pesky answers that cause problems for politicians.

Last week, we asked 10 questions of GOP gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley, whose campaign did not answer. This week, we asked 10 questions of her Democratic challenger, Sen. Vincent Sheheen. His campaign responded within 24 hours. You be the judge whether he answered questions fully.

To be transparent, you have to be seen

JULY 23, 2010 — South Carolina’s Queen of Transparency, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Haley, hasn’t been in the local media much lately.

For South Carolina Democrats, that’s because she’s caught in a media bubble by her campaign handlers in an attempt to bypass serious scrutiny for as long as possible.

Electorate is impatient, malleable … or not

That something odd is going on with the South Carolina electorate isn’t a controversial statement. But trying to peg what actually is happening is more difficult.

Haley’s thin record leaves little leadership hope

JUNE 18, 2010 – - The really bitter irony of the June 8 elections is that the angry people who voted for Nikki Haley as the GOP’s choice for governor are in for a big shock one day: Instead of being a change, she represents more of the same. The hyper-ambitious Haley is little more than Mark Sanford in drag.

New SC poll still has us scratching our heads

MAY 31, 2010 – With about a week before the primaries, a new InsiderAdvantage/ Statehouse Report poll still has us flummoxed.

The poll, taken the night following the May 25 headline-grabbing accusations that GOP Rep. Nikki Haley had an extramarital affair with a blogger in 2007, showed voters still preferred her over three male opponents. Of the respondents who said they would vote in the Republican primary, just over 30 percent said they’d cast ballots for Haley, compared to 20 percent for Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and 14 percent each for U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett and Attorney General Henry McMaster.