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The view from rural South Carolina

Justin Webb | 22:36 UK time, Monday, 27 April 2009

In preparation for President Obama's 100th day, I have spent some time today with South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford whose relatively lonely hold-out against the stimulus spending orgy has attracted some if it all goes wrong for Mr Obama.

We left Mr Sanford on a tractor on a patch of land near Beaufort in the state's gorgeous lowland region - looking very at home on his own soil as it were.

Mr Obama tills no sod. He never has - not in Hawaii and not at Harvard and certainly not in Chicago.

I cannot think of another president who has not at least pretended to have a love of the great American outdoors. If Mr Obama goes down in one term it will be the revenge of the rural folks rather than a right/left thing.

At a gun shop, we heard lurid tales of ammunition-buying in the wake of the growth of the power of the federal government. Sounds daft? Maybe - and of course he lost South Carolina in the election anyway, so his relative unpopularity here is no great surprise - but South Carolina is only irrelevant if he manages to rescue the economy and then deal with the inflationary consequences of the rescue.

If it does not work, Mr Sanford is ready with the Big Chill that might be necessary.

Sell Palin (if you are still crazy enough to be holding this currency), keep Jindal, buy Sanford, at least as a hedge...

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