In one of the wonderful ironies that history loves to deliver, a son of Strom Thurmond — the man who defined South Carolina hardball racial politics for decades — lost a GOP primary runoff to an African-American Republican called Tim Scott.

The district is a Republican one, so Scott should be the first black House GOP member since J.C. Watts left a decade ago.

And, yeah, Scott is the real deal:  He’s been endorsed by the local Tea Party organization.

So, come November, South Carolina may elect a governor of Sikh descent and a black Republican

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