In their summer magazine, the Washington-based political news organization Politico profiled Nikki as future leader of the Republican Party. The crux of the story? During a time South Carolinians haven’t had a whole lot to be proud of on the national stage, the combination of her commitment to conservative principles and unique personal story may just be the tonic our state needs.

Read below:

“Gov. Mark Sanford isn’t the only fascinating political story in South Carolina these days. There’s another pol on the Columbia scene who might also find herself in the national spotlight, albeit under very different circumstances.

Her name is Nikki Haley. A 37-year-old state legislator who is running for governor in 2010, Haley is often compared to another fast-rising Republican star: fellow Indian-American Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana.

The daughter of two immigrants, Haley knocked off South Carolina’s then-longest-serving incumbent to become the first Indian-American Republican elected to a state Legislature. After that upset victory, she again caught the attention of the state’s political establishment last summer by successfully moving to limit voice votes and force state lawmakers to vote on the record, an unpopular move with many of her state House colleagues.

Her socially and fiscally conservative credentials are burnished with strong ratings from the National Rifle Association and the state chapter of the Club for Growth and by her role earlier this year as one of Sanford’s lone legislative allies in trying to reject some federal stimulus funds. …

‘It was unfortunate the way it played out in the state,’ she said of the long political battle that ended with Sanford accepting the funds. ‘Republicans need to go back to what we originally believed in, which is less taxes and being accountable to the people.’ …”

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