A sea change: Nikki Haley’s opposition to concede

South Carolina’s Nikki Haley, a Tea Party favorite, held a double-digit lead over four contenders taking 49 percent of the vote. But Republican Party officials, including Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, said they expected significant pressure on her leading opponent, Rep. Gresham Barrett, to drop out of the race.

As Charlie Speight of The Garnet Spy, a conservative blog in South Carolina, reports: “Kristol’s point, and, presumably that of his Republican sources, is that the Haley vote total (205,000+: 49 percent) in the primary was more than double that of Barrett (91,000+: 22 percent). Further, Haley carried 42 of 46 counties — the remaining four going to Barrett, all of them in his current congressional district. Neither Attorney General Henry McMaster nor Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer carried any counties. That means neither of them can help Barrett in a runoff. His only hope would be that more than half of Haley’s voters would stay home and all of his, plus some would stay with him. Not gonna happen.”

A shift in political sensibilities can be measured in the primary results across the country yesterday. With Haley’s victory and that of Sharron Angle in Nevada, a Tea Party activist, it may now be considered a political sea change.

As the “Tea Party” right has gained strength, Obama’s hope-and-change left has faded, writes The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was ruthlessly heckled by progressive activists at a Campaign for America’s Future rally.

After a musical break that included the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," conference organizer Robert Borosage's co-director, Roger Hickey, complained, writes Milbank. "Larry Summers and Tim Geithner and Rahm Emanuel don't see themselves as part of a movement, and we often see them as part of a problem," he said.

Possibly part of the liberals’ problems today is that they are still taking their cues from Mick Jagger and Eldridge Cleaver.

Visit Mr. Quigley's website at http://quigleyblog.blogspot.com.