Oops: Dem Challenger Slips And Calls Gov. Nikki Haley A ‘Whore’ (VIDEO)

A spokeswoman for the South Carolina Democratic Party had a hunch why TPM was getting in contact with her on Friday.

“If you take a look at the actual video it’s really clear that he got tongue tied and did not say anything like what folks are tweeting online,” Kristin Sosanie, the communications director for the South Carolina Democratic Party, told TPM in an email, even before we’d had a chance to explain why we were reaching out.

Sosanie’s suspicions were correct. Earlier in the day, TPM came across a video of a campaign rally on Thursday night for South Carolina state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, the Democratic challenger to Gov. Nikki Haley (R). The video had been posted online by a South Carolina newspaper, the Florence Morning News.

Addressing supporters at an event in Florence, S.C., a fired up Sheheen said Haley’s days in office were numbered.

“And we are going to escort whore out the door,” he said, before quickly correcting himself.

“We’re gonna escort her out the door.”

The verbal flub drew an immediate reaction from the crowd. As some of the attendees howled, Sheheen tried to sheepishly regain his footing.

“Y’all,” he said with a laugh. “Think about it, y’all. Alright, calm down out there.”

Shortly after her preemptive email on Friday, Sosanie reached TPM by phone.

“He has a very heavy southern accent and it just garbled together and the crowd kind of laughed,” she explained. “And he very clearly re-enunciated to make himself clear.”

Sosanie said she didn’t think the Haley campaign had said anything about the goof, and she emailed an official statement to TPM shortly after the phone call.

“Sen. Sheheen’s words last night just jumbled together, and the video proves it. He clearly did not say that,” the statement said. “The line ‘escort her out the door’ became garbled, and he re-enunciated immediately afterwards in the speech to make himself clear. Any outrage is just fabricated controversy.”