Haley, Barrett back on campaign trail for runoff

Just hours after learning they would face each other in a runoff for the Republican nomination for South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley and Gresham Barrett are back at work campaigning.

Haley visited Hudson's Smokehouse in Lexington to meet with old friends and supporters. Barrett met with reporters at his campaign headquarters in Columbia and then met voters at another Columbia restaurant.

Haley almost won the primary without a runoff, receiving just under 49 percent of the vote. A candidate needs 50 percent plus one vote to win without a runoff. Barrett was second with 22 percent. Attorney General Henry McMaster was third with 17 percent of the vote and Lt. Gov. André Bauer got 12 percent.

Haley told reporters, "It was certainly something that we hoped for, but I don't think we ever anticipated 49 percent."

Barrett also said he was pleased with the outcome, since some people were predicting a runoff between Haley and McMaster.

"We came from nowhere to somewhere and we're going to go from somewhere to first place before it's over with," he told reporters.

He's hoping to duplicate what Sen. Jim DeMint did in the 2004 Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Former Governor David Beasley won that primary with DeMint placing second, but DeMint won the runoff.

But University of South Carolina political scientist says DeMint had a lot less ground to make up. In the primary, Beasley got 36.6 percent of the vote to DeMint's 26.3 percent. In this primary, Haley got 49 percent to Barrett's 22 percent.

"The toughest job in South Carolina politics today is to be Gresham Barrett's campaign manager and try to figure out a way to tighten that race up, because it's just, there's been cases where the person who's finished second has come back in the runoff, but not with a split this big," Dr. Oldendick says.

He says McMaster and Bauer supporters are more likely to stay home and not vote in the runoff. If they do vote, though, he thinks more would support Barrett.

But neither McMaster nor Bauer is endorsing anyone yet. McMaster campaign spokesman Rob Godfrey says McMaster was back at work as attorney general and is focused on doing his job.

André Bauer was standing at a busy Columbia intersection Wednesday afternoon holding a sign thanking voters for his 8 years as lieutenant governor. When asked if he would endorse Barrett or Haley, he said, "I don't know. I uh, thought has crossed my mind. I guess that'll be for another day."

Barrett and Haley both vowed to focus on issues during the runoff campaign, with both stressing their experience as small business people. Barrett ran his family's small furniture store while Haley is an accountant who has worked at her family's store.

Haley says, "Small business is all I know. It's the reason I ran for the State House. I was determined to get government to know the value of a dollar and 95 percent of our economy is small business."

Barrett says, "I've been the chief executive officer of a small business, a mom-and-pop furniture store. I mean, if I had one prerequisite for any elected official is that they had small business experience because I know, on a daily basis, you know, what I do as a legislator and how it affects the bottom line of the small business person out there."