Confederate flag issue boosts Haley's chances in vice-prez bid

Indian-American South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's "bold" move to remove from the State Capitol the Confederate flag, considered a symbol of the nation's racist past, has boosted her chances to get the 2016 Republican nomination for the US Vice-President's post.
While the last Republican governor who took on the Confederate flag in South Carolina lost his job, 43-year-old Haley may get a promotion, Politico said in an article.
"Haley's decisive action to drive the final removal of the banner from statehouse grounds quickly and relatively cleanly in the glare of the national spotlight proved a well- timed audition for higher office ahead of the 2016 Republican veepstakes.

"The fact that the issue at hand aligned perfectly with Haley's brand - a squeaky-clean, pro-business image that transcends her party's gender and ethnic liabilities - only helps," the article adds.
Strategist Steve Schmidt, who managed John McCain's 2008 presidential bid said: "Nikki showed leadership in this instance, and she represents a new Republican face in the South.
"She speaks to the growing diversity of Republican elected officials in executive office, and she's been a very effective governor in the state of South Carolina, and certainly, she's going to be a person given serious consideration."

Haley, who signed into law on Thursday the bill to remove the slavery-era Confederate flag, was hailed nationally for this effort. She initiated the bold move in the aftermath of the tragic shooting of several black people inside a church last month by a white supremacist.

The article adds that Haley's experience of the past three weeks can only help her break through into national politics.
"Nikki Haley, to begin with, is a demographic dream for the Republican ticket. She is a female, she's an Indian- American, she exhibits diversity in a very unique way in the Republican Party," said Bruce Haynes, president of the political consulting firm Purple Strategies and an advisor to the Republican National Committee's 2008 presidential independent expenditure arm.
"But now she has also shown the ability to take what historically in her state was a very difficult issue and lead from the front and win and bring people together on an issue that has historically been extraordinarily divisive," he said. "So, as attractive as she was before, this only moves her further up the chart with a bullet."

"Speculation has increased about her potential as 2016 vice-presidential nominee, but perhaps more important, she appears to have done something that has long eluded Republicans: She has pointed up a positive path forward on the issue of race that elected officials throughout the nation and, frankly, all candidates can follow," Doug Heye, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee wrote in the Wall Street Journal.