wish I cared more: nikki haley elected governor of south carolina

Republican Nikki Haley has been elected South Carolina's first woman governor, defeating state Sen. Vincent Sheheen and becoming the nation's second Indian American governor: Nikki Haley Defeats Vincent Sheheen In South Carolina Governor's Race.

She won with about 52 percent of the vote over state Sen. Vincent Sheheen's 46 percent with 85 percent of precincts reporting.

Haley, a 38-year-old married mother of two, earned the backing of Sarah Palin and campaigned stridently as a political outsider seeking to derail entrenched interests in her state's capitol. She also was able to shoulder unproven accusations of infidelity, questions about her finances and experience and the handwringing of business groups and fellow Republicans worried she will continue Sanford's acrimonious relationship with the state Legislature's GOP leaders.

Sheheen, a 39-year-old Democrat from Camden, had won numerous newspaper endorsements and even grudging praise from Republican operatives impressed with a campaign that made the contest closer than anyone expected.

Can't say I'm much of a fan, as she stands in opposition to almost everything I believe in, but you can't deny that Haley's victory -- as a woman and an ethnic minority, in a state that has historically elected white men to its highest office -- is pretty remarkable. More here: What They Said: Nikki Haley Has 'Overcome History.'