Check Out The New Nikki

Is it just us, or is one of those grain silos happy to see Nikki Haley?

Bow-chika-bow (ba-doom-ching).

Whatever the case, South Carolina’s most visible State Representative has a new home on the world wide web, which we were alerted to by a mass e-mail from Rep. Haley last night that began with this line: “Dear Friends, Believe it or not, I’m not writing you about ‘On the Record’ voting!”

Pretty funny.

Haley, of course, has become a household name across the state for her advocacy of this issue, a crusade that ultimately got her rudely demoted from her position on the House Labor, Commerce and Industry committee by House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who doesn’t take too kindly to people shining a light on our state’s legislative shenanigans.

What’s interesting about Nikki’s new site is that it’s designed by Under the Power Lines, the same folks that brought you Nathan’s News (and, um, Phoney Fred).

Could Haley be adding them to her current consultant roster of Starboard’s Walter Whetsell and B.J. Boling?

Hmmm … not a bad assemblage of political talent, if you ask us.

Anyway, we like the design on Nikki’s new site … and it’s certainly a good set-up for a statewide run, should she decide to do that … although we do hope Nikki joins her colleague Rep. Ballentine (and Rep. Jeff Duncan and Sen. Kevin Bryant, too) in starting up a legislative blog as part of her new website.

Hearing directly from lawmakers about what’s going on at the State House (often while it’s going on) is always interesting, and Ballentine, Duncan and Bryant have all used their blogs to effectively connect with constituents and media types – often in surprisingly direct and unfiltered terms.