This is of note for two reasons:

Republicans in Laurens and Newberry counties will host the state’s first gubernatorial debate for the 2010 GOP nomination. The debate will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Newberry Opera House.

Expected to attend are all the announced and likely Republican candidates to replace term-limited Gov. Mark Sanford. They are 3rd Congressional District Rep. Gresham Barrett, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, state Sen. Larry Grooms of Bonneau, state Rep. Nikki Haley of Columbia and S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster.

First, obviously, it’s of interest because it’ll include Rep. Nikki Haley, who was of course one of our best-received candidates at the RedState Gathering. Check out the video at the link - or check out the one below:

Why Nikki? from David Thompson on Vimeo.

…and if you like that, here’s Nikki Haley’s donation page.

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All I can say about Nikki Haley is WOW. The story of her rise in politics, and her willingness to take on the Republican establishment in South Carolina is compelling. She capped off the presentations in Atlanta, like the cherry on top of the cake.

She is running for Governor of South Carolina next year. Regardless of the success of her campaign, she is clearly going to be a strong voice for conservatives in the future.

Just watch.

Nikki Haley from David Thompson on Vimeo.

Another quick interview, this time with Nikki Haley. She’s another candidate that I’ve been following, and I’m very pleased that she was able to attend the Gathering. As mentioned earlier, footage of her actual comments and question-and-answer session will be made available later.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

This weekend, 200 RedStaters gathered together in Atlanta to hear from real conservative leaders and candidates.

We were specific in our invitations — we wanted conservatives, not just Republicans. The message was phenomenal. The time shared was outstanding.

But now we have work to do. We cannot return to our former ways. We must commit to continuous activity on behalf of these outstanding men and women.

If you live in their area, help them. Volunteer. If you don’t live near them, consider opening your checkbook or pulling out your credit card.

We can take back the GOP. We can win on a message of small government. But we have to step up and help.

Each person listed below paid their own way to spend time with RedState activists in Atlanta. This was not a gathering for you to hear from them, but for them to hear from you. And they did hear from you.

Now let them hear from you again — volunteer, talk to your friends, donate, do whatever you can to help them in their elections.

• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) Candidate for the United States Senate
• Former Congressman Pat Toomey (R-PA) Candidate for the United States Senate
• Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
• Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)
• Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) Chairman, Republican Study Committee
• Hon. Karen Handel (R-GA) Georgia’s Secretary of State & Candidate for Governor
• Liz Cheney (okay, she’s not a candidate, but she should be)
• Ken Cuccinelli (R-VA) Virginia State Senator & Candidate for Virginia Attorney General
• Michael Williams (R-TX) Texas Railroad Commissioner, Candidate for the United States Senate
• Marco Rubio (R-FL) Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, Candidate for the United States Senate
• Ted Cruz (R-TX) Texas Solicitor General, Candidate for Texas Attorney General
• Nikki Haley (R-SC) Member, South Carolina House of Representatives, Candidate for Governor

Imagine a United States Senate with Michael Williams, Pat Toomey, and Marco Rubio. Imagine a Supreme Court hearing from Ken Cuccinelli and Ted Cruz on states’ rights. And imagine having two ladies like Karen Handel and Nikki Haley slashing goverment bugets and taxes from their respective Governors’ Mansions.

We can make all that a reality.

I’ve meant, for a while, to comment on Stephen Gordon’s post from back in May about the GOP needing libertarians more than libertarians needs the GOP.

I think he has some merit to his argument, but I would say that libertarians and conservatives both need the GOP and need each other. They are not always going to agree. There will be fights over the drug war, marriage, etc. But at the end of the day, both conservatives and libertarians are, or at least must be, committed to smaller government.

I bring this up to point out Nikki Haley. She’s unapologetically pro-life, but she is first and foremost known as a fiscal conservative. She is the type of candidate conservatives claim they want. She is also the type of candidate libertarians claim to want.

While she won’t please everyone — the only candidate who ever tried is now in the White House making everyone mad — she gets checks in all the major boxes: life, tax cutting, government cutting, honesty, and uncompromising on the need to reform.

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As you can tell, we’ve been away and busy at the RedState Gathering.

Liz Cheney spoke. She was amazing.

“America needs a commander in chief,” she said, ” not a global community organizer.”

Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Nikki Haley, Michael Williams, Ken Cuccinelli, Karen Handel, Tom Price, Pat Toomey, Roy Blunt, Jim DeMint, and Rick Perry all joined us in person or via video.

It was an amazing time. Stand by for lots of video and pictures.

You may remember South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley from a previous interview that she did with RedState; she’s recently been profiled in Politico as one of the GOP’s potential stars of the 2010 election cycle…

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.

…and you can also listen to a recent radio interview that Nikki did here on the topics of South Carolina politics, the need for fiscal conservatism, and - unsurprisingly, alas - Governor Sanford.

If either the article or the interview leaves you interested in hearing more: I am pleased to be able to tell you that she’ll be coming to the RS Gathering. I’ll let Erick give the full details, but for right now suffice it to say that she’ll be accessible to attendees.

Hope to see you all there!

Moe Lane

[Note: Google hasn't caught up yet. Her official campaign website is here.]

It’s official:

Haley Officially Enters South Carolina Governor’s Race

State Rep. Nikki Haley is adding her name to the list of Republicans hoping to become governor of South Carolina in 2010. Haley, a staunch anti-tax advocate, confirmed Thursday that she will mount a run for the seat currently held by Republican Mark Sanford, who is prevented by term limits from running for a third term.

“For more than five years I’ve sat in the statehouse and watched - sometimes in disbelief - as our state government has spent with abandon and in the process wasted taxpayer dollar after taxpayer dollar,” Haley said in a release. “I know what good government can look like. I’m running for Governor so the people of this state will know what it feels like.”

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