COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint's resignation gives Gov. Nikki Haley authority to choose South Carolina's next senator, and the only indication she's made so far is that she won't appoint herself.
Speculation abounds over who she might pick to fill the seat through 2014, when voters will choose someone to serve the remaining two years of DeMint's term. The guesses began as soon as DeMint announced his resignation, effective Jan. 1, to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Names tossed out as possibilities include the state's four congressmen recently re-elected to their second term.
Haley also could make history by appointing Rep. Tim Scott, who would become South Carolina's first black U.S. senator and the chamber's first black Republican from the South since Reconstruction.
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