COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
By his own admission, it was not one of Lexington Sen. Jake Knotts' finer moments. The District 23 Republican let loose -- some say a little too loose -- with a shocking slur directed at then-Representative Nikki Haley and President Barack Obama.
"We got a raghead in Washington. We don't need a raghead in the State House," Knotts said.
Knotts' words were carried on what was at the time, a new Internet political show called Pub Politics.
Few people saw the show on the web or in person, but the controversy that followed forced Knotts to apologize. He was censured by Lexington County Republicans and others in the party called for his resignation.
That was two years ago. This week, for the first time, a video of the incident surfaced on BuzzFeed, a political website. Who leaked it is not entirely clear. But the show's creators, Democratic Party consultant Phil Bailey and Republican Party consultant Wesley Donehue, are quick to say they weren't behind the leak.
"The timing is completely suspect," Bailey said. "You know the day that the state GOP executive committee is meeting and to discuss this issue, so it's kind of a last ditch effort to put that out there, some damaging information and some video against Senator Knotts."
The video has a uStream brand on the upper right hand corner, indicating it was recorded off the web feed and is not the clean copy kept by Donehue. He suspects someone supporting Knotts' opponent Katrina Shealy.
"I've run a lot of races where the opponents don't like each other very much or you know they're not very friendly toward each other. These two hate each other. I mean they despise each other," Donehue said "There's a lot of bad blood between Katrina Shealy and Jake Knotts so it's not surprising this is going to be one of the nastiest races in South Carolina this year.
The dirty tricks don't stop there, at least in Lexington County. Last weekend, someone distributed hundreds of flyers painting Senate District 18 Republican candidate Kara Gormley Meador as a feminist, gay marriage supporter, gun, and Tea Party opponent. The message was spread around at the state Democratic Party convention.
"It was basically just a gimmick to try to get that information out there about her," Donehue said. "Obviously, I just think it was cheesy and will probably backfire."
Meador, a former WIS reporter and anchor, called the letter "juvenile" and says she hopes it shows she's being taken seriously as a candidate.
As for Shealy, there has been no reaction from her or her campaign about the issue.
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