Surrogate Wars, Palmetto Style

In the pre-positioning between WH '08ers, endorsing future party leaders gives us in the media a fun way to play the horse race game. We all saw IA Gov. Tom Vilsack's presumedly preferred candidate go down in IA, while ex-Sen. John Edwards' boy won. In NE, Sen. John McCain's candidate for Gov., Rep. Tom Osborne, lost out to Sen. Chuck Hagel's candidate, Gov. Dave Heineman.

Well, yesterday's primary brought one more surrogate battle. In SC's 123rd district, State Rep. Richard Chalk beat out challenger Tom Herbkersman 55%-45%. Chalk focuses on health care issues in the SC legislature and in early 10/05 invited ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich to Hilton Head to keynote a health seminar. While there, Gingrich held a luncheon with SC legislative GOPers and a fundraiser for Rep. Bob Inglis (R-04), and lent his name and a quote to Chalk.

Herbkersman, on the other hand, is the brother of State Rep. Bill Herbkersman of the nearby 118th district. Thanks to some mutual friends and political supporters, the challenger was able to wrangle a donation out of, guess who, John McCain.

We'd also note that this is the third race in which McCain has chosen the wrong horse in the primary. Aside from Osborne and Herbkersman, McCain also endorsed ex-Rep. Dave Emery (R), who came in third behind State Sen. Chandler Woodcock and State Sen. Peter Mills in the race to take on Gov. John Baldacci (D) in November.

A GOP source in SC points McCain also endorsed SC House Maj Leader Rick Quinn for State Treasurer. Quinn came in a distant third to ’02 Sen candidate Thomas Ravenel (R) and State Sen. Greg Ryberg.

Now -- to be fair -- McCain was one of the earliest endorses of Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA) before Nussle shooed out his primary challenger, and he was an early supporter of OH Gov nominee Ken Blackwell. [REID WILSON]