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COLUMBIA — Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has a strong backing for reelection next year among GOP voters, while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham will need to convince people in his party to give him another term, according to a new Clemson University poll. Haley received favorable marks from 70 percent of 500 Republican voters who participated in two of the past three GOP primaries. Just 18 percent said they did not like the former Lexington lawmaker. Graham, who is facing competition from the libertarian wing of the party in the June primary, was liked by 53 percent of those polled. More...

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has narrowed her list of potential Senate appointees down to five — including the state’s former first lady Jenny Sanford. A person close to the process confirms that the five names under “active consideration” are Sanford, Rep. Tim Scott, Rep. Trey Gowdy, former state attorney general Henry McMaster and Catherine Templeton, the director of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian compared his state’s Republican governor, Nikki Haley, to Eva Braun, the longtime mistress of Adolf Hitler.

Make way for Nikki Haley. With noted smackdowns of two top GOP 2012 contenders, a high-profile presence at the May 5 Fox News debate and a schedule heavy with cable news show appearances, the first-term Republican governor is signaling her intent to use South Carolina’s key early presidential primary to claim a place on the national stage. Haley’s recent muscle-flexing came at the expense of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, both of whom are still licking their wounds after her frank—and non-constructive—criticism of them. Asked by CNN about Gingrich’s controversial critique of Rep.Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) Medicare reform plan, Haley piled...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina senators have given final approval to legislation that will require people to have state- or military-issued photo identification to vote. Wednesday's 26-16 vote agrees with a compromise version of the legislation that the House approved two weeks ago. The vote broke along party lines with Republicans supporting it and Democrats voting against it. It will now head to Gov. Nikki Haley's desk. The Republican governor has been a key supporter of the legislation. Republicans say the bill is about voter integrity. Democrats say it suppresses turnout by minority, disabled and elderly voters who lack a...

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney deflected a question on National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) actions against the Boeing Company in South Carolina on Wednesday, and the state’s Republican Gov. Nikki Haley isn’t pleased. “Well, it’s obviously been in the news, so we are aware of it, but I would refer any questions about it to the NLRB because it is an independent agency, and we do not get involved in particular enforcement matters of independent agencies,” Carney said. “I don’t have a reaction to this from the President. And I think the fact that he’s weighed in on outside...

Washington (CNN) – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and a group of Republican senators demanded Tuesday that the Obama administration weigh in on the National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing, saying the complaint could jeopardize thousands of South Carolina jobs and the future of free enterprise in the country. The NLRB's complaint alleges that Boeing decided to build a new 787 Dreamliner plant in South Carolina, a so-called "right-to-work" state, in retaliation against union workers in Washington state who had engaged in past strikes. The NRLB's Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon is seeking an order to keep that production...

In October 2009, Boeing, long one of the best corporations in America, made an announcement that changed the economic outlook of South Carolina forever: The company's second line of 787 Dreamliners would be produced in North Charleston. In choosing to manufacture in my state, Boeing was exercising its right as a free enterprise in a free nation to conduct business wherever it believed would best serve both the bottom line and the employees of its company. This is not a novel or complicated idea. It's called capitalism. Boeing has since poured billions of dollars into a new, state-of-the art facility...

TheState.com) — African-American lawmakers, upset about the near-inevitability of passage of a bill to require South Carolinians to show a photo ID at the polls, renewed their efforts Tuesday to brand the proposal an effort to suppress turnout by black and poor voters, urging the U.S. Justice Department to intervene. Black Legislative Caucus members held a State House press conference, minutes before the House of Representatives took up the controversial measure, a Republican priority, and, ultimately, passed it. The bill now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate. If it passes there, it lacks only the governor’s signature to become law. Gov....

As Republicans ramp up their 2012 campaigns, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is certain to be one of the most sought-after endorsements in the country, considering she's a rising star GOPer who presides over a key early primary state. Haley, like other politicians, has been cagey about who she will support, but she's already giving big hints about who she won't endorse. Per The Fix's Aaron Blake, the South Carolina governor suggested to a group of reporters Monday that she thinks Newt Gingrich's time has passed. "There was a place and time for him," Haley said. "I think there is...

Looks like somebody wasn't enjoying listening to President Obama. Newly elected South Carolina Governor Nikki Halley was spotted typing on her ipad while Pres. Obama was speaking to a room full of Democrat and Republican governors.

One of the favorites of South Carolina conservatives, Gov. Nikki Haley, and one of their least favorites, Sen. Lindsey Graham, are teaming up to promote legislation that would permit states such as the Palmetto State to “opt out” of Obamacare. Graham mentions the value in putting every senator on record as to whether or not their state should have the option of opting out of Obamacare. In South Carolina Republican circles, there’s still a lot of talk about a conservative challenge to Sen. Lindsey Graham, but it’s worth noting he’s not up for reelection until 2014.

COLUMBIA (WACH) -- WACH Fox station management is calling for a retraction and public apology from S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley after she issued an attack on the station's journalistic integrity and credibility via her Facebook page. Early Monday, the governor posted to her profile "WACH FOX 57 is a tabloid news station and has no concept of journalism." Haley's statement came several hours after WACH Fox News accurately reported new claims made by Will Folks, a political blogger and former press secretary to Gov. Mark Sanford, who claims he had an "inappropriate physical relationship" with the married then-Representative Haley in...

Forget about Mitt, Huck and Newt. From its highest levels to the grass roots, the GOP is buzzing over Marco, Bobby and Susana, as well as more than a half-dozen other junior Republican officeholders who have captured the party’s imagination in ways that the current 2012 presidential field hasn’t come close to doing. It’s almost as though there is more excitement over the deep pool of vice presidential prospects than over the emerging roster of presidential candidates, which is largely composed of white, male, former and soon-to-be-former governors, none of them from the biggest battleground states. (Check out POLITICO's 2012...

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's attorney general has asked a federal judge to dismiss a union's lawsuit against Gov. Nikki Haley after she said she would fight to keep unions out of the Boeing Inc. plant in North Charleston. The documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston say the International Association of Machinists haven't shown that Haley has done anything wrong. The union sued last month after Haley had said she had nominated Catherine Templeton to run the state's labor agency because she would be helpful in state fights against labor groups, particularly at Boeing. Haley said after...

LEAD -- Securing the future of the Sanford Lab is a top priority, Rep. Kristi Noem said Monday. Noem, who toured the lab's underground and surface facilities Monday morning in order to understand the project better, said she plans to work hard to make sure the lab receives the necessary funds to continue operating until a formal decision can be made about DUSEL construction. “It is extremely important as far as the progress that has been made. It has been very encouraging and we are hoping that we can continue down that path and make sure that we're working toward...

Governor Nikki Haley (R-SC) discusses what the next steps will be for her state after yesterday’s ruling finding the health care law mandate to be unconstitutional:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Some Upstate art groups are outraged after Gov. Nikki Haley called for an end to funding the South Carolina Arts Commission in her first State of the State address. "To take all of that away ... from all the arts organizations in the state, I think its catastrophic," said Alan Ethridge of the Metropolitan Arts Council in Greenville. Ethridge said many arts organizations, especially in rural areas, will struggle to survive without funding from the Arts commission. "Without them providing funding to schools and artists who work in schools and to artists-in-residence, I think art education will...

(Reuters) - South Carolina unions filed suit on Thursday against new Republican Governor Nikki Haley and her administration, saying hostility toward unions and workers joining unions is unconstitutional. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the South Carolina AFL-CIO alleges that Haley is violating the federal constitutional and statutory rights to free speech, free association and due process. South Carolina is one of 22 "Right to Work" states and Haley said she will ensure that South Carolina workers are not compelled to join a union.

After the pool spray with President Hu Jintao in the Oval Office, a cameraman asked President Obama “If the Bears win, are you going to the Super Bowl?” “Oh we're going,” responded the President, “no doubt.” On Sunday, the Chicago Bears will play the Green Bay Packers at Chicago’s Soldier Field for the NFC Championship. As a freshman senator in December 2006, with the political world wondering about his plans for 2008, Mr. Obama appeared in a mock-commercial during Monday Night Football in which he said, “I'm here tonight to answer some questions about a very important contest that's been...