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So Vincent Sheheen turned up in Charleston this week, calmly and rationally bashing the tar out of Gov. Nikki Haley's education track record.

He pointed out that she's cut $110 million from education in her four years in office, that 81 of her 200 budget vetoes have been targeted at teachers and the classroom. "Failed leadership," he called it.

The Democrats - well, the few who were there - were happy to hear this spirited attack. See, some local Dems don't think the veteran state senator is running a very good campaign.

In fact, they are upset. They see Haley everywhere - eating burritos with Chris Christie, having suspected non-right wing bloggers run out of campaign events, showing up at every Starbucks opening to claim she's the reason those high-paying jobs are here.

Meanwhile, they only see Sheheen in Haley campaign ads, his face photo-shopped a la O.J. Simpson.

They expect more from the guy who lost a nail-biter in 2010. In fact, some of them have been trying to scrape up the money to put Sheheen's face on a milk carton.

Have you seen this candidate? He was last seen putting a big ol' scare into the GOP in 2010.

Four years ago, Sheheen took 47 percent of the vote in the governor's race to Haley's 51.4 percent.

That was two years into President Obama's term, when the tea party movement was at its apex, and Sheheen nearly pulled off a monumental upset in a state about as red as Little Orphan Annie's dress.

That showing won him the right to a rematch, and earlier this year Democrats were expecting big things. Because Haley now has a record, and it is decidedly mixed.

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Democrats are looking for Sheheen; he's looking for voters