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Mississippi's Republican Gov. Haley Barbour will visit South Carolina on March 15 to keynote the Spartanburg County GOP's annual President's Day dinner.

Washington (CNN) - Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, one of several Republicans thought to be considering a White House bid in 2012, is making another trip to a key early voting state.

Barbour, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, will visit South Carolina on March 15 to keynote the Spartanburg County GOP's annual President's Day dinner. Spartanburg County GOP Chairwoman LaDonna Ryggs told CNN that the event – which she described as "a very large fundraiser" – was re-scheduled from its original date in February.

Barbour has already made trips in recent months to the presidential proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire, but at the time he said those trips were part of his duties as RGA chairman. South Carolina will elect a new governor in November.

One of Barbour's political confidantes said it's understandable the governor's political travels will raise suspicions about a possible 2012 bid, but said Barbour is genuinely focused of winning governor's races this fall.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee heads to a key primary state later this month.

Washington (CNN) – Mike Huckabee, the onetime presidential candidate turned conservative talk show host, will make a political stop in the early primary state of South Carolina later this month.

Huckabee will campaign in Greenville on Feb. 18 for House candidate Rex Rice, who is running to fill the 3rd congressional district seat left open by Rep. Gresham Barrett, a Republican candidate for governor. Rice backed Huckabee's 2008 presidential bid.

Though the campaign stop is in Greenville, the city is actually situated in the 4th congressional district, represented by Rep. Bob Inglis. A Rice spokesman said the location was chosen to accommodate Huckabee, who is flying into Greenville for only a couple of hours.

It's unclear if Huckabee's trip signals an interest in a second run at the White House: his star was tarnished last December by the revelation that as Arkansas governor, he granted clemency to Maurice Clemmons, the man who murdered four police officers in Washington. And Huckabee's political action committee only had $192,000 in the bank at the end of 2009.

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South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer poses with actor Tom Cruise at a NASCAR race last year.

(CNN) - South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, under fire for drawing a comparison between needy people and "stray animals," said Monday that he regrets his choice of words.

In a phone interview with CNN, Bauer, a Republican candidate for governor, said, "I wish I had used a different metaphor." Bauer told an audience Friday that people receiving government assistance are like "stray animals" because "they breed" and "don't know any better."

"I never intended to tie people to animals," he said, before opting for a kinder animal metaphor: "If you have a cat, if you take it in your house and feed it and love it, what happens when you go out of town?"

Noting that he has raised money for a group that protects animals, Bauer also said he is "not against animals."

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Washington (CNN) – National Republicans will begin airing a new 30 second commercial this week in Rep. John Spratt's congressional district, criticizing the South Carolina Democrat for his role as House Budget Committee chairman.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is airing the political ad with the hope of pressuring Spratt to choose retirement over running for a 15th term to the House.

There are rumors that Spratt, who was first elected in 1982, is contemplating leaving office in November. Spratt has a history of being a very strong incumbent. In 2008, he won re-election by a 62 percent to 37 percent margin in a district where John McCain defeated Barack Obama by a 53 percent to 46 percent spread. But this year, Congressional Republicans are touting Mick Mulvaney, a GOP state senator, as a candidate who can potentially knock off the powerful chairman.

In addition to the NRCC's weeklong cable buy, the House GOP campaign arm is sending out an e-mail blast to its entire supporter list this afternoon asking them to donate money to keep the ad on the air. Third party interest groups often use this fundraising technique to encourage their supporters to help fund political commercials.

Full text of ad after the jump:
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South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is running for governor this year.

(CNN) - South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer isn't backing away from controversial remarks he made over the weekend comparing needy people to "stray animals."

Bauer, who is one of several candidates seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said Friday that providing government food assistance to lower-income residents - things like food stamps or free school lunches - encourages a culture of dependence.

"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer told an audience in the town of Fountain Inn, according to the Greenville News. "You know why? Because they breed."

"You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply," Bauer continued. "They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

Bauer said recipients of government assistance should undergo drug testing or be forced to attend parent-teacher conferences, or else lose their benefits.
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Mark Sanford visited Washington on Thursday.

Washington (CNN) – On the morning after delivering his final "State of the State" address in Columbia, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford strolled through the Capitol rotunda Thursday afternoon along with South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis.

Asked why he was in Washington, Sanford, a former House Member, walked toward the House floor as the chamber was about to vote and told CNN: "I was going to catch up with some friends on the House floor."

Sanford said he has not yet met Massachusetts Sen-elect Scott Brown.

Another Republican governor, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was also visiting House lawmakers today. He is slated to meet with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the entire House delegation from his state.

Paul Thurmond (back), the youngest son of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, has officially jumped in the race to replace retiring Rep. Henry Brown in South Carolina's 1st congressional district.

(CNN) – Paul Thurmond, the youngest son of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, has officially jumped in the race to replace retiring Rep. Henry Brown in South Carolina's 1st congressional district.

In announcing his bid, the Republican cited a love of public service instilled in him by his father - a legendary political figure who served as South Carolina governor and senator along with running for president in 1948 on a segregationist platform.

Thurmond, a 34-year old attorney, had formed an exploratory committee earlier this month. He sounded a populist note in his announcement.

"My candidacy isn't about me – it's about us," he said. "We've reached a point where Congress is simply ignoring the will of the people, and that's not acceptable. It's time to return power to the people, and the states – where it constitutionally belongs."

Thurmond enters an already-crowded GOP primary field that includes another candidate with a famous name: Carroll "Tumpy" Campbell III is one of former governor Carroll Campbell's sons.

Katon Dawson finished second to Michael Steele in the race for RNC chairman last year.

Washington (CNN) - Katon Dawson thought he was heading to Hawaii later this month to serve as South Carolina Republican Party chairwoman Karen Floyd's proxy at the Republican National Committee meeting. Dawson is still going, but he won't have Floyd's vote in his back pocket.

Dawson, who fought Michael Steele for the RNC chairmanship last year, said Wednesday he is "not ready to comment" on why he will not be the proxy - essentially a voting substitute for an absent RNC member. But the former South Carolina GOP chairman added that he still plans to attend the meeting in an unofficial capacity.

Several South Carolina Republicans tell CNN that there was concern that Dawson's presence in Hawaii as an official representative of the state party might anger Steele and his allies, possibly jeopardizing the state's influential role in the GOP presidential nominating process.

A spokesman for the South Carolina Republican party said Wednesday that while Floyd had asked Dawson several months ago to attend the Hawaii meeting, she did not ask him to be her proxy.

"The proxy was something that was never contemplated," said Joel Sawyer, a spokesman for the South Carolina GOP. "The plan had always been to send him in Karen's place because of his great institutional knowledge of the party and the RNC organization."

But last Friday, Dawson told CNN he was excited to make the trip as Floyd's proxy, which would give him an official vote at the RNC meeting.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham was censured Monday by a county party in South Carolina.

(CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham defended his record as a consensus-builder on Tuesday and said the Lexington County Republican Party's decision to censure him on Monday was the work of a few angry Ron Paul supporters intent on purifying the GOP.

The resolution, which censured Graham for supporting the 2008 financial bailout and working towards a compromise on cap-and-trade legislation, passed Monday night by a 13-7 vote.

"I have tried my best to be a conservative that can grow and build this party," Graham said, according to The State newspaper. "They have no desire to do that - I do."

South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, who became a conservative hero after he shouted "You lie!" at President Obama during a major speech last year, hails from Lexington County. He also defended Graham.

“Lindsey Graham has been a great leader for our state and party," Wilson said in a statement to CNN. "I appreciate everything he has done for me and his tireless work in helping Republicans at all levels of government. He’s a team player. Ronald Reagan always said that people who agree with you 80 percent of the time should be considered a good friend. Reagan was a wise man and if we want to build a strong, vibrant Republican Party we should follow his advice.”

Shortly after Graham's comments about the censure on Tuesday, former leaders of the Lexington County Republican Party in South Carolina contacted the current party chairman to question the censure effort.

Four former Lexington County GOP chairs co-wrote an e-mail to party chairman Rich Bolen claiming that Graham was "ambushed" by the vote because party members were not told ahead of Monday's meeting that any resolutions would be considered - especially one censuring the state's senior senator. As a result, they wrote, not all members of the county party attended the meeting to express their views.

"The resolution should have been added to the agenda and sent out in advance, and every member of the committee should have been given a chance to participate in the process," they wrote.

The e-mail, provided to CNN by a source close to Graham, was written by former Lexington GOP leaders Scott Malyerck, Katrina Shealy, Butch Wallace, and Lyman Whitehead.

(Full text of e-mail after the jump)

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South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford's memoir will now hit stores February 5 instead of the original April release date.

(CNN) – South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford's memoir, "Staying True," has been fast-tracked and will now hit bookstores on February 5 instead of the original April release date.

Sanford's publisher, Ballantine Books, announced the new date on Tuesday.

Sanford landed the book deal in September, just a few months after her husband, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, admitted to an affair with an Argentine woman. In December, Sanford released a statement saying she is filing for divorce "after many unsuccessful efforts at reconciliation."

According to a synopsis of the book on the publisher's Web site, her memoir "reveals the private ordeal behind her very public betrayal - and offers inspiration for anyone struggling to keep faith during life's most trying times."

"She chose to let Mark Sanford deal with the embarrassment and political fallout from his own actions while focusing her own efforts privately on raising their children to be men of character, even in the face of the lies their father has told," the synopsis reads.

Sen. Lindsey Graham has frustrated grassroots conservatives in his home state for years.

(CNN) - The Lexington County Republican Party in South Carolina voted late Monday to censure Sen. Lindsey Graham for his positions on several controversial issues, including his recent support for a compromise on cap-and-trade legislation.

The Lexington GOP is now the second county party organization in a matter of months to censure Graham after Charleston County leaders approved a similar resolution in November. But unlike Charleston County, Lexington is one of the most conservative counties in South Carolina and is considered a bellwether of Republican sentiment in the state.

The measure passed by a 13-7 vote after more than an hour of debate, according to Lexington County GOP chairman Rich Bolen. Four party members, including Bolen, abstained.

Along with criticizing his cap-and-trade support, Monday's censure resolution also rapped Graham for his vote in favor of the 2008 financial bailout and his outspoken support of immigration reform.

The grassroots activists who generally make up county party organizations have never been enthusiastic about their senior senator, who has frequently crossed party lines to work with Democrats in the Senate.

The language in Monday's censure resolution makes that sentiment clear. The measure criticizes Graham for failing to abide by the principles of the South Carolina GOP platform and accuses him of showing "contempt and belligerence" toward his fellow Republicans.

Read the resolution here.

South Carolina Rep. Henry Brown, a five-term Republican, is set to announce his retirement Monday, two sources tell CNN.

(CNN) – South Carolina Rep. Henry Brown, a five-term Republican, is set to announce his retirement Monday, two sources tell CNN.

Brown, whose 1st Congressional District includes much of South Carolina's coastline –including Charleston and Myrtle Beach - won a closer-than-expected reelection bid in 2008 and was already set to face a primary challenge from Carrol Campbell III, the son of a once powerful South Carolina Republican.

The news was first reported by the Palmetto Scoop.

But while Brown only won his reelection bid by 4 points in 2008, his district is considered to be reliably conservative, handing then-Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain 56 percent of the vote in 2008.

According to the Palmetto Scoop, at least three other Republicans besides Campbell have announced their intention to run for Brown' seat, including Mt. Pleasant Town Councilman Mark Fava.

Paul Thurmond, the son of the longtime Sen. Strom Thurmond, and Tim Scott, a current State Representative who is currently making a bid for lieutenant governor, could also enter the race.

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Mark and Jenny Sanford have been living apart since he revealed an affair last summer.

(CNN) – Will South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford be watching Wednesday night when his wife Jenny sits down with Barbara Walters in her first television interview since her husband admitted to an extramarital affair in June?

The governor isn't saying.

Speaking to reporters in Charleston shortly after a House panel rejected an impeachment measure against him, the Republican was asked his thoughts on Jenny's TV appearance. He chose his words carefully.

"She has been real grace under fire," he said of his wife. "And I think she has made a lot people in this state and this country quite proud."

Pressed on whether he plans to watch, Sanford grinned.

"You will never know," he answered.

Mark Sanford and his legal team won a big victory on Wednesday.

(CNN) – A South Carolina House panel voted down a resolution Wednesday to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford, but the embattled Republican faces one more procedural hurdle before his survival in office is guaranteed.

In their final meeting to consider the impeachment resolution, members of the special House subcommittee called Sanford's behavior "reprehensible," "arrogant" and "indefensible" - but six of the seven lawmakers on the panel concluded that the Republican's behavior does not rise to the constitutional level of impeachment.

Sanford has been under scrutiny since June, when he left the country for five days to visit his Argentine mistress without informing his staff or the Lieutenant Governor of his whereabouts.

Under House rules, the measure will also be considered by the full Judiciary Committee, but it's unlikely the committee would come to a different conclusion than the subcommittee.

Lawmakers will still considering a bill to censure Sanford.

Sanford's legal team scored a victory on Thursday.

(CNN) – A special House panel considering an impeachment measure against South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford decided Thursday that their review will not include most of the state ethics charges filed against the governor last month.

South Carolina state lawmakers voted to throw out 28 of the 37 civil charges filed by the state Ethics Commission, most of which involved Sanford's purchase of business class tickets with taxpayer money and his use of campaign funds.

State House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison, who is overseeing the special impeachment panel, said the ethics charges do not rise "to the level of serious misconduct or a serious offense" that would merit removing Sanford from office.

Harrison's subcommittee is still evaluating Sanford's use of state-owned aircraft along with the original impeachment resolution, which focuses on whether Sanford broke the law by secretly leaving the state in June to visit his mistress.

One of Sanford's attorneys, Ross Garber, applauded the decision.
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Democrat Chad McGowan is hoping to unseat Republican Jim DeMint next year.

(CNN) – The Democrat who wants to be South Carolina's next United States Senator might not see eye to eye with President Obama if he's elected next November.

In fact, Chad McGowan - a Rock Hill trial attorney who national Democrats see as their best hope to unseat conservative Republican Jim DeMint - appears to oppose the bulk of the White House's economic agenda, including the stimulus package and "a government takeover of healthcare."

McGowan's campaign outlined those stands Tuesday in a statement disputing the DeMint team's claim, made Monday, that McGowan supports Democratic health care reform legislation in Washington.

"DeMint's folks get their facts from the same place they've gotten their imaginary economic figures," McGowan spokesman Tyler Jones said in an e-mail to CNN. "The accusation that Chad McGowan has endorsed President Obama's health care plan is blatantly false. And Chad is on the record opposing the stimulus, opposing the bailouts, and opposing a government takeover of healthcare.

"This is the second time in as many months DeMint and his folks have outright fabricated Chad's positions," Jones continued. "Those games may work in Washington, but they won't work here in South Carolina. Instead of making up positions, Chad will continue to present real ideas to fix our economy, create jobs and help South Carolina's hard working middle class families."

That McGowan might not march in lockstep with other Democrats in Washington isn't exactly a surprise: He told CNN in October that he was once registered as a Republican and voted for Lindsey Graham in last year's Senate election. McGowan also called himself "a gun person."

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint has earned a national following among conservative Republicans.

(CNN) – The Democrat hoping to unseat Jim DeMint next year took direct aim at the conservative South Carolina senator for the first time on Monday, accusing him of putting "personal political ambitions" ahead of his constituents.

Chad McGowan, a trial attorney who formally entered the 2010 race in October, pounced on a remark DeMint made on a recent conference call with supporters that was printed Sunday by McClatchy newspapers.

"All of you all over the country - please remember that Senate seats are not about a particular state," DeMint said on the call, according to McClatchy. "They're about our country. Every vote I take is not about South Carolina. It's about the United States of America."

McGowan has avoided confronting DeMint directly since jumping into the race, but he said in a statement he was "disappointed" by the comments.

"It's the same story over and over," McGowan said. "Jim DeMint and his personal political ambitions come first. In times like these, we need TWO Senators who care about South Carolina, who advocate for South Carolina, and who produce for South Carolina. If we had that, we would be making real progress on some of the problems we face in our schools, employment, and crime."

He also knocked DeMint for spending time making endorsements in prominent Republican primaries around the country. The Republican has thrown his support behind conservative Senate hopefuls Marco Rubio in Florida and Chuck DeVore in California.

"An election in California or New York doesn't matter to the man or woman in South Carolina who can't find a job," McGowan said. "This is a question of priorities."

DeMint response after the jump

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Mark Sanford, a Republican, has refused to resign in the face of criticism from his own party.

(CNN) – A panel of South Carolina lawmakers who gathered Tuesday to formally consider impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford voted to broaden the scope of their inquiry to include 37 new ethics charges against the Republican.

Those civil charges were revealed Monday by the South Carolina Ethics Commission, which had conducted a three-month investigation into Sanford's use of state finances. The governor and his legal team now face a hearing before the Ethics Commission to determine if Sanford broke any state laws by charging the state for first- and business-class flights, using state-owned aircraft for political travel and tapping into campaign funds for personal use.

The lawmakers, members of a special subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee that met for the first time Tuesday, decided to include the ethics charges in their review and scheduled four more meetings of the subcommittee for December.

The group will review the Ethics Commission report over Thanksgiving and decide if the charges should be included in the impeachment resolution, which accuses Sanford of "serious misconduct" for leaving the state in June to visit his Argentine mistress without leaving in place a chain of command.

The seven lawmakers - four Republicans and three Democrats - listened to sworn affadavits from key players in the scandal and entered into the record news reports from June highlighting Sanford's absence from the state.

Rep. Greg Delleney, one of the Republicans who drafted the impeachment measure, appeared to warn Sanford against fighting an impeachment effort, should the subcommittee decide to move forward.

"Impeachment is a political process, it's not a legal process," Delleney said at the meeting, which was attended by Sanford's attorneys. "There is no appeal from an impeachment process. Impeachment is final. Impeachment is solely the constitutional power, duty and responsibility of the South Carolina House of Representatives."

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Former Sen. Rick Santorum will visit the crucial primary state of South Carolina in December.

Washington (CNN) – Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum doesn't appear to be shy about his 2012 intentions.

The Republican, who was thumped by 18 points in his 2006 re-election bid, has met with conservative activists in Iowa, delivered a speech to a Right to Life dinner in Michigan and has stepped up his public criticism of President Obama.

Now he's headed to another early primary state: South Carolina.

Santorum will campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Gresham Barrett in Bluffton, Spartanburg and Greenville on December 8 and 9. Barrett, currently a member of Congress, is one of five candidates seeking the GOP nomination for governor.

"I'm also looking forward to visiting with South Carolina families to discuss the issues that matter to them and the future of this country," Santorum said in a statement announcing the trip. "Too much is at stake to sit back and not participate in the critical discussion of how to address these issues."

Sanford is also facing a possible impeachment effort.

(CNN) – The South Carolina Ethics Commission has charged Gov. Mark Sanford with 37 counts of violating state ethics laws, according to a complaint released by the commission on Monday.

The complaint follows a three-month investigation into Sanford's use of taxpayer money.

Sanford is accused of using tax money to purchase business-class airfare on domestic and international flights, flying on a state-owned aircraft to political gatherings or events "which involved no official business," and spending campaign funds for personal use such as purchasing a ticket to attend President Barack Obama's inauguration in January.

South Carolina law requires state officials to purchase the lowest fares available for flights, and bars the use of state aircraft for personal use.

Sanford's office did not respond to requests for comment about the charges.

The governor, once a rising star in the Republican party before he revealed an extramarital affair in June, will now face a hearing along with his legal team before a three-member ethics panel. Cathy Hazelwood, general counsel to the state Ethics Commission, told CNN that no date has been set for the hearing.

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