Maybe there's something in the sultry air of South Carolina. First there was governor Mark Sanford and his mysterious Argentine lover. Today the state's top political blogger, Will Folks, announced that he and Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley had an "inappropriate physical relationship". Haley firmly denies his claim.
They can't both be right, can they?
To make matters more bizarre, Haley is supported in her run for the GOP nomination by Jenny Sanford – the former wife of Mark Sanford who ran his political campaigns.
Oh, and Folks himself is a former aide to Governor Sanford, but who resigned in 2005 after pleading guilty to criminal domestic violence charges made by his then fiancee.
Haley, a state representative, was an underdog when the race to succeed Sanford began last year. But recently her campaign has taken off, thanks to the support of Jenny Sanford, the endorsement of Sarah Palin and sections of the Tea Party movement, and the backing of Folks's blog FitsNews. Latest polling showed Haley in the lead with the Republican primary just two weeks away.
Today, though, Folks posted on his blog:
[W]ithin the last forty-eight hours several pieces of information which purportedly document a prior physical relationship between myself and Rep Haley have begun to be leaked slowly, piece by piece, to members of the mainstream media. I am told that at least one story based upon this information will be published this week. Watching all of this unfold, I have become convinced that the gradual release of this information is deliberately designed to advance this story in the press while simultaneously forcing either evasive answers or denials on my part or on Nikki's part.
I refuse to play that game. I refuse to have someone hold the political equivalent of a switch-blade in front of my face and just sit there and watch as they cut me to pieces.
The truth in this case is what it is. Several years ago, prior to my marriage, I had an inappropriate physical relationship with Nikki.
That's it.
I will not be discussing the details of that relationship, nor will I be granting any additional interviews about it to members of the media beyond what I have already been compelled to confirm.
Haley, however, is having none of it, releasing a statement:
I have been 100% faithful to my husband throughout our 13 years of marriage. This claim against me is categorically and totally false.
It is sad, but not surprising, that this disgraceful smear has taken form less than a week removed from the release of a poll showing our campaign with a significant lead. It is quite simply South Carolina politics at its worst.
But "South Carolina politics at its worst" is setting the bar quite low, in the wake of the Sanford soap opera and given that another of the candidates running for the Republican nomination, lieutenant governor André Bauer, has had to contend with long-running rumours that he's gay.
Update: Sarah Palin, via the medium of Facebook, pops up to tell Nikki Haley that she knows what she's going through:
South Carolina: don't let some blogger make any accusation against your Nikki if the guy doesn't even have the guts or the integrity to speak further on such a significant claim.
Well, we'll soon see about that.
