Do Smears No Longer Work in South Carolina?

The Washington Post reports on an interesting evolution in South Carolina's politics, smears seem to be a less effective political weapon then they used to be:

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- There's a whisper campaign going on in South Carolina this month, but it's not what you might think. The whisper is that the political smear tactics that this state made famous don't seem to be working this time around.

It started a couple of weeks ago, when two separate allegations of adultery were directed at Nikki Haley, a Republican candidate for governor. Voters either didn't believe the unsubstantiated claims or didn't care; Haley won 49.5 percent of the vote in the GOP primary. She and the runner-up, Rep. Gresham Barrett, will face each other Tuesday in a runoff.

Last week, more unseemliness: Some of Haley's critics, including at least one county GOP chairman and two pastors, questioned whether the candidate, a first-generation Indian American who was raised in the Sikh tradition, is really a Christian, as she says she is. It's a touchy topic for South Carolina, where race, religion and negative campaign tactics have a long, uncomfortable history in politics. It's also touchy for Republicans, who are trying to get past their image among many Americans that theirs is the less tolerant party.

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