There are enough South Carolians to do both replace Jim and beat Lindsey
I bet she is under pressure to name Scott which is fine with me
“There are enough South Carolians to do both replace Jim and beat Lindsey”
Agreed, but only if Gov. Haley names someone who will clear the field, not someone vulnerable or, even worse, a placeholder. If Haley names Congressman Tim Scott, no conservative would be foolish enough to run against him in a Senate primary in 2014 (Scott demolished the respective sons of Strom Thurmond and Carroll Campbell in the SC-01 primary in 2010, and is an even more formidable candidate today), and whichever conservative wants to go to the Senate would direct his fire at Lindsey Graham. However, if Haley names a less formidable candidate than Scott, conservatives may decide that running in the primary for that Senate seat in 2014 would be an easier race than taking on Graham and his money, and Graham may escape with less formidable competition. And if Haley named a placeholder who won’t run again in 2014, then we would be pretty much guaranteed to see everyone and his sister run in the 2014 primary for the open seat, and Graham won’t face anyone with much of a chance of beating him.
So I say name Scott to DeMint’s seat, and thus lock that seat up for 2014, and then Gowdy, Mulvaney, etc. can take on Graham and replace him with a real conservative. (Given that SC has a run-off if no one gets 50%+1 in the primary, having two or three conservatives running against Graham won’t allow him to eke out the nomination with 38% or something, since even if he finishes first he would have to beat the second-place finisher in a one-on-one run-off.)