The debate between South Carolina gubernatorial candidates Nikki Haley (R) and Vincent Sheheen (D) got pretty heated last night, with Haley attacking Sheheen’s background as a trial lawyer, and Sheheen painting Haley as the second coming of Mark Sanford.
Sheheen repeatedly characterized the election as being about “electing a governor we can trust.”
“If you look at what’s happened when these folks have been running our state… you can’t be anything but embarrassed,” he said.
Haley described Sheheen as only “talking about the negative…I have spent all of my time talking about things that are going to create jobs.”
On the stimulus, Haley accused Sheheen of being “Obama’s cheerleader on fighting to get that stimulus.” Sheheen shot back: “Didn’t you vote for the amendment that said we would take the stimulus? Answer that question.”
Haley replied: “I get that you’re a trial lawyer, but I’m not one of the people in your courtroom.”
The two also disagreed on illegal immigration, though they both acknowledged that it was a problem. According to The State, Sheheen argued that South Carolina’s own immigration law, passed two years ago, is better than the Arizona law.
“I think that is the appropriate focus for South Carolina,” he said. “Our bill in fact is tougher than the Arizona law, especially on employers. I’m not going to pass a bill that would water down our bill.”
Haley supports the Arizona law, and hit Sheheen for voting for a budget that didn’t provide funding for enforcing the South Carolina law. “It’s no good to pass an illegal-immigration reform bill if you don’t fund the prosecution of that,” she said. “If an Arizona-style bill came to my desk, I would sign it.”
The TPM Poll Average shows Haley leading Sheheen 45.4%-40.4%.
