South Carolina Photo ID Law Draws Heated Rhetoric From Republican Presidential Candidates

Posted: 1/15/12 07:54 PM ET

(Reuters) - The state that fired the first shot in the Civil War is once again battling the U.S. government in a racially charged conflict that is drawing heated rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates.

South Carolina is in a standoff with Democratic President Barack Obama's administration over a new state law that would require residents to produce a photo ID before they could vote. Federal officials say it could disproportionately keep black voters away from the polls.

For South Carolina's Republican leaders - and Republican presidential candidates seeking support in the state's primary on January 21 - the Justice Department's move is the latest in a series of intrusions into state business by Washington.

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"Each of our states are under assault right now by this administration," Texas Governor Rick Perry said Saturday at a candidates' forum in Charleston. "We may be under assault - South Carolina, they're actually at war with you."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/south-carolina-photo-id-law_n_1207919.html

There are some choice quotes from James Clyburn at the end of the article.