Ping!
So much for the famed "Dixie Chick". Last year, the media bragged about how RATS will rise again in the South by recruiting educated, white Southern women to run for office. Jim DeMint, despite a horrible debate performance on Meet The Press, still won by 10 points. It goes to show the GOP strength in South Carolina. With the state becoming a mono-party state, hopefully African-Americans will stop wasting their votes on RATS and give Republicans another look.
Probably didn't want to run for reelection because after being a low-profile liberal prior to the Senate contest, she'd be highly vulnerable to any decent GOP challenger "illuminating" her record.
It also still remains, however, that the GOP is doing an exceptionally poor job in the state with African-Americans. The 'Rats may be down and out at the moment, but all they need is to merely attract a small percentage of White voters to win statewide contests, while the GOP has to rely completely on a supermajority of Whites. This does not benefit the GOP whatsoever (and certainly doesn't benefit Blacks as long as the 'Rats are shut out). Outreach has to be a top priority for the GOP. We get to at least 25-30% of the Black vote (my personal goal is to see at least 60%), and the Dems will be shut out for perpetuity.
The SC Dem Party is going to decline before it makes any moves upward. It would take a landslide, like 1974, for the 'Rats to be competitive in SC again. All they can do is hope the price of gas rises through the roof again.