CLEMSON, S.C. – In the words of Yogi Berra, it’s “déjà vu all over again” in the South Carolina governor’s race.
The two men who in the spring separately accused Republican Nikki Haley of having extramarital affairs with them both signed affidavits this week detailing their alleged encounters, but again neither provided any evidence to prove their sworn statements.
Haley has refused to give any sworn statement refuting the claims of blogger Will Folks and lobbyist Larry Marchant.
“I’m not acknowledging something that’s not true,” she told WSPA Wednesday. “It’s up to them to prove it. It’s not up to me to prove that I’m telling the truth. It’s up to them to prove that is true.”
The latest poll, from Winthrop University released this week, shows Haley with a nine percentage point lead over Democrat Vincent Sheheen. She had led by as many as 17 points nearly a month ago, according to Rasmussen Reports.
Meanwhile, Haley returned to her alma mater Clemson University this weekend with her family to campaign and see the Tigers break a three-game losing streak by defeating the Maryland Terrapins 31-7 Saturday afternoon.
“This is coming home,” Haley told TheDC. “My husband and I met our first weekend at Clemson, and we got engaged in the botanical garden. This is where we spent some of the best years of our lives, so we love being back home.”
Haley, with her husband Michael and her two children Rena and Nalin, greeted and took pictures with orange-clad fans in the shadow of Memorial Stadium, nicknamed Death Valley. Her campaign team handed out stickers and yard signs to anyone who would take them.
Just before kickoff, Haley and her family gathered at the stadium gate to cheer head coach Dabo Swinney and the Tiger players as they made their traditional entrance into Death Valley by rubbing Howard’s Rock and running down the hill onto the field.
Haley graduated from Clemson with a B.S. degree in accounting.
On the campaign trail, her opponent Sheheen has hammered Haley on issues of trust. His latest attack ad asks, “Can we afford another governor who says one thing and does another?”
Sheheen had his biggest fundraising day of the year on Thursday, raising $31,000 before the close of the fundraising quarter.
She is also facing questions from the right about transparency issues from a group called Conservatives for Truth in Politics, which claims to have grown to 100 members.
Rob Godfrey, Haley campaign spokesman, dismissed the group, telling The State, “We’ve said all that needs to be said about this handful of old-guard politicos who are desperate to stay relevant and make news in the waning days of the election.”
“When you take the conservative road, as I have, you make a lot of insiders mad, and they throw a lot of garbage in your way,” Haley said in her latest ad.
WATCH: Nikki Haley’s latest ad
WATCH: Vincent Sheheen’s latest ad