COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The 2010 race for governor more than a year away, but candidates already raising the money to run.
State Sen. Vincent Sheheen says he's already raised more than $500,000 for his gubernatorial campaign.
Sheheen says he's encouraged by the contributions.
"As I have traveled our state in recent months talking to our citizens, I have become excited by how many share the vision of a South Carolina with the best public schools, a thriving economy, and a state government that works for all its citizens."
State Rep. Nikki Haley says she's seen no substantial effect in fundraising for GOP governors race from the scandal surrounding Gov. Mark Sanford.
Haley said Thursday she'll report raising more than $211,000 in her first campaign finance report to win the 2010 nomination to replace term-limited Sanford. The governor has been a key ally of for Haley as he pushes what she calls a reform agenda in the Legislature.
Haley announced for governor on May 14. That's more than a month before Sanford disappeared for nearly a week before re-emerging to confess an affair with a woman in Argentina.
Haley removed Sanford's picture from her campaign Web site. She said that would have happened anyway because she didn't want Sanford to have that much prominence on the site.