State Republicans want to limit their primaries to supporters and are taking the issue to federal court. The Greenville County Republican Party and the state GOP have filed a federal lawsuit to force the SC General Assembly to require voters to register by party before voting in primaries. Patrick Haddon, the chairman of the Greenville party:

Twenty-nine other states have registration by party in some form or fashion. This is just the first step in that process to get the court to look at our present day statues whether they are constitutional or unconstitutional because we believe we ought to be able to have the right to associate there for by having a closed primary.

The lawsuit won’t affect this Tuesday’s voting.

Haley at early GOP debate, husband Michael in background

A former advisor for Lt. Governor Andre Bauer says he and gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley had sex. It’s the second allegation against GOP gubernatorial front-runner Nikki Haley.

“I spent the night with Mrs. Haley and we had sexual relations. We had sex. We went to dinner, had some drinks, and that was it. It was one time and one time only,” says Larry Marchant.

Marchant is the second man to come out with an affair allegation in just two weeks. First, it was ex-Sanford staffer and political blogger Will Folks. Now it’s Marchant, who is a former campaign advisor for Haley’s gubernatorial opponent, Lt. Governor Andre Bauer. [Read more...]