Nikki Haley gets a moniker to die for: "Reagan in a skirt"

Nikki Haley took her campaign to the northern part of South Carolina, touting elements of her newly released jobs plan and telling a crowd of 400 that she is running to “put common sense back in South Carolina.”

The Republican pick for South Carolina governor raised more than $34,000 at the fundraiser while delivering a 10-minute speech and taking questions from guests on issues ranging from immigration to stimulus money to education.

“We’re going to restructure our government, and we’re going to make it accountable,” Haley told an enthusiastic crowd at the clubhouse of a subdivision outside Rock Hill, S.C.

State Rep. Ralph Norman, York County Republican, introduced Haley as “Ronald Reagan in a skirt,” a description she somewhat cautiously embraced.

South Carolina primary was a trifecta for conservatives

In recapping the GOP primary runoff in South Carolina, Jim Antle neglected to mention the result that rendered this a trifecta of good news for limited-government conservatives: The defeat of Rep. Bob Inglis, who voted for the 2008 TARP bailout and lost Tuesday by more than a 2-to-1 margin to Trey Gowdy. As National Journal's Reid Wilson notes, the TARP vote was also a factor in the gubernatorial primary:

Also Tuesday, Rep. Gresham Barrett (R), once the front-runner in the race to succeed SC Gov. Mark Sanford (R), finished way behind state Rep. Nikki Haley (R) in a runoff election. Haley beat Barrett, who voted for TARP, by a 65%-35% margin.

Inglis' and Barrett's losses come a month after Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) lost his chance at winning a fourth term when he finished third at his state's GOP convention. Bennett was one of 34 GOP senators to vote in favor of TARP legislation in Oct. '08 -- a vote both his opponents used to campaign against him.

The defeat or retirement of TARP-tainted incumbents like Inglis and Bennett is the best way for Republicans to repair their party's Bush-era "brand damage."

Tea Partiers and outsiders triumph in SC primary elections

Nikki Haley won the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina on Tuesday while other GOP candidates in the state won as "outsiders."

In two of the three Republican run-offs for open U.S. House districts, candidates who ran as conservative “outsiders” defeated opponents perceived as more moderate “establishment” Republicans. Rep. Bob Inglis was defeated for renomination in the 4th District after his votes and actions upset conservatives, and anti-spending conservative Tim Scott, an African-American, in the 1st District, defeated the son of GOP legend, the late Sen. Strom Thurmond.

Challenger Trey Gowdy rolled up 71% of the vote against six-termer Inglis and Scott won 74% of the vote against Paul Thurmond.

Only in the 3rd District were the results less than clear cut. Richard Cash, owner of a fleet of ice cream trucks and pro-life leader, led State Rep. Jeff Duncan in the initial primary. Last night, however, Duncan bounced back and apparently won the run-off with 51% of the vote. Where Cash was the outsider and favorite of cultural conservatives, Duncan nonetheless had good conservative credentials of his own. As a legislator, he had sponsored pro-gun measures and tough bills dealing with illegal immigration.

To no one’s surprise, 38-year-old State Rep. Haley won the gubernatorial runoff by a margin of nearly 2-to-1 over Rep. Gresham Barrett. In many ways, their contest was also symbolic of the trend in GOP primaries this year of “outsiders” overcoming “the establishment.” Haley, who had the least experience in office (and the smallest campaign kitty) of any of the four GOP hopefuls in the initial primary earlier this month, won last night through the backing of younger voters and the Tea Party movement. Barrett had the backing of the state Chamber of Commerce and much of the business community.