COLUMBIA, S.C. AP – South Carolina is the land of Revolutionary War heroes and was the first state to secede from the union. But its suspicion of federal government intrusion is hardly part of its storied past.
It’s a sentiment that all the Republican presidential candidates are playing to as they court GOP voters with this argument: that President Barack Obama has eroded individual rights by stretching the federal government’s reach and that only they can get Washington to back off. This pitch resonates strongly in a state where the Confederate Flag still flies in front of the state Capitol.
