In case last night’s Republican presidential debate was too much excitement for one evening (and let’s face it: what’s more exciting than four old guys talking about sugar subsidies?), after the debate Stephen Colbert officially re-suspended the presidential campaign that he had un-suspended from Herman Cain. Colbert also offered a quick look at the rally he had at the College of Charleston on Friday with Herman Cain, which you can read Palmetto Public Record’s complete coverage of by clicking here.
Now on to the headlines:
Does South Carolina still pick presidents? - After South Carolinians overwhelmingly voted in favor of Newt Gingrich Saturday in the state’s first-in-the-South presidential primary, Romney’s inevitability is now very much in question — and with it, South Carolina’s reputation for choosing the eventual nominee, as Palmetto Public Record reported yesterday. The RealClearPolitics polling average has Obama beating Gingrich by 11 points in the general election, compared to the mere two-point deficit Romney would face.
SC jobless rate drops for 4th straight month - New figures show South Carolina’s unemployment rate fell to 9.5 percent in December from 9.9 percent in November, according to the Charleston Post & Courier. The decline marks the fourth consecutive monthly drop, and the jobless figure is at its lowest point since December 2008, when it was 9.2 percent.
Sit next to you during Obama’s speech? Probably not - There’s no indication S.C. lawmakers will be taking part in a symbolic show of bipartisanship during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address tonight, according to McClatchy Newspapers’ James Rosen. As of Monday evening, none of South Carolina’s eight members of Congress were on a list of 182 lawmakers who had committed to sitting next to a senator or representative from the other party for the annual speech.
Reporter’s treatment gets Citadel apology - Officials at The Citadel apologized Monday after a New York journalist said campus police officers knocked her cellphone from her hands and shoved her as she photographed protesters who had thrown glitter at Rick Santorum, according to the Post & Courier’s Andrew Knapp. The reporter was interviewing participants of Occupy Charleston outside the military college’s Mark Clark Hall after the Republican presidential candidate congratulated his competitors in the South Carolina primary Saturday night.
Black leaders to SC gov: You’re a minority, too - Civil rights leaders bothered by Gov. Nikki Haley’s stance on issues like requiring voters to show their IDs at the polls are reminding the governor that she is a minority, too, according to the Associated Press’ Jeffrey Collins. Critics have said the law is merely a new, covert effort to take away the right to vote from older blacks and poor people, groups who historically tend to vote for Democrats and are less likely to have a driver’s license or other government-issued ID.
One more thing: Did you know Mitt Romney had a Swiss bank account? And paid about half the tax rate of the average American family? As the Washington Post’s Matt Yglesias points out, Romney’s timing in releasing his tax returns couldn’t be worse – what with President Obama’s speech on income inequality scheduled for tonight and everything.
