John and Cindy McCain
South Carolina is often home to the most bitter primary campaign battles. In 2000, John McCain was the target of a cruel whisper campaign during his run for the presidential nomination as rumors surfaced that his wife, Cindy, was a drugaddict, and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter, Bridget, was born of an adulterous union. Neither of the smears were true, but they were enough to convince many South Carolinians to cast their votes for George W. Bush instead, helping him clinch a primary win and the Republican nomination. When McCainreturned to the state in 2008 during his second presidential run, it was with apprehension, but in the end he got the last laugh, winning the South Carolina primary and going on to capture the nomination himself.