With just three days left for her crucial run-off for the Republican governor's nomination from South Carolina, American-Indian aspirant Nikki Haley received a major boost in her electoral prospects with an endorsement by the blogger who had alleged to have affair with her.
Her campaign received a further boost on Friday as the former Massachusetts Governor and top Republican leader Mitt Romney campaigned in her favour.
She also received $42,000 for election campaign before the run-off, media reports said.
Haley, a first-generation Indian-American who was raised as a Sikh, but converted to Methodism when she was 24, faces Congressman Gresham Barrett in the run-off on June 22.
She led in the primary last week with 49.5 percent of the vote, coming to within a hair's breadth short of winning the nomination outright.
The Washington Post said on Saturday that she is favoured to win the runoff Tuesday despite attempts by detractors this week to question her Christianity.
"I think the 49 and a half percent figure that Nikki Haley garnered is a pretty clear indication that the people of South Carolina want to focus on the key issues," Romney said on Friday.
"The distractions are not distractions anymore," he said.
Meanwhile, the blogger who tried to jeopardise her campaign earlier by claiming that he had an affair with her, yesterday came out in her support.
"The fact remains that this election (at least to us) isn't about whether Haley is telling the truth" about the allegations, blogger Will Folks wrote on Fitsnews.com.
"It's about the hundreds of millions of dollars that will likely be saved as a result of her winning the general election in November," he said.
His article suggested that Haley, if elected, would do more to limit the size of state government.
If elected, in the November elections, Haley would be the second Indian-American Governor of an US State and the first Indian-American woman to occupy such a constitutional post.
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