Nikki Haley Rolls Up Her Sleeves

[Valin]

National Review:

This rising GOP star is eager to move the country to the right, starting with South Carolina.
Robert Costa & Andrew Stiles
12/3/10


Washington — Growing up in Bamberg, S.C., Nikki Haley was a frank girl — for good reason. By age 13, she was doing the accounting for her family’s fashion-retail business and had to keep a close eye on the bottom line. Two decades later, Haley, the Palmetto State’s 38-year-old governor-elect, pledges to bring that same business-friendly, just-the-facts approach to the state capital. This week, she sat down with National Review for a wide-ranging interview about her gubernatorial goals and the future of the Republican party.

Haley, before having even taken office, is widely considered to be one of the GOP’s rising national stars. With her wide smile, Sikh-American heritage, southern charm, and conservative values, she has been cited in Beltway circles as a potential 2012 vice-presidential pick. Haley shrugs off the big-ticket buzz. “I can’t even imagine that,” she chuckles. Governing — not veep chatter — is on her agenda. The new gig, she notes, is “not a stepping stone.”

But Haley does hope to play a role in moving her party to the right in coming years. Already she has been tapped as the next recruitment chair for the Republican Governors Association. Top congressional leaders have noticed her, too. On Wednesday, she huddled with Speaker-elect John Boehner of Ohio and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky at the Capitol.
(Snip)