Teacher:In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: South Carolina’s primary — and its state pride — is on the line. 
  
 Faced with a state GOP that’s low on cash and a governor who’s cut off taxpayer funds, officials are scrambling to put together the $1.5 million necessary to run operations for the 2012 GOP presidential primary. 
  
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 reset POLITICO 44 
  
 Primaries used to be the parties’ burden. But in 2008, Republicans and Democrats won state funding for their presidential primaries, which now allow crossover voting, putting their management in the hands of the State Election Commission for the first time. With tough economic times in the Palmetto State, the expected funding has now gotten tangled in a budget fight, and Republican Gov. Nikki Haley shows no signs of giving in to the state GOP’s new request for funding. 
  
 The State Election Commission on Friday won some relief when the state budget office advised that the agency would be able to use leftover cash from last year’s elections, up to $680,000, for next year’s state primaries and elections — even if Haley vetoes the measure in the budget bill. 
  
 But that still leaves them almost $1 million short. 
  
 Haley had told lawmaker that she thought the GOP itself should cover the difference, but that was before last week’s final budget negotiations, which axed a measure that would have allowed the commission to run the primary and bill the state GOP. The South Carolina attorney general’s office has since cleared up some of the murkiness, announcing that the commission still has the authority to run a Republican presidential primary in February. 
  
 The South Carolina attorney general’s office isn’t sure how the funding would work. Neither is the State Election Commission. 
  
 “Can the party directly contract with the election commission? Can it pay directly whoever is providing the service, like poll managers and putting notices in the paper?” said the commission’s spokesman, Chris Whitmire, laying out the situation. 
  
 “It’s clear as mud,” Whitmire said. 
  
 Despite the troubles, the South Carolina Republican Party says it’s confident that the show will go on and that budget belt-tightening won’t shift the timing of the contest. “The primary is no way in jeopardy,” said Matt Moore, the party’s executive director. 
  
 So far, the state GOP has raised $160,000 through filing fees from six presidential candidates. But it would need a lot more to make up the difference or run the primary on its own. The party’s financial reports show it only has about $137,000 on hand. 
  
 Nonetheless, Moore remains optimistic, vowing to raise the money and find common ground with the governor’s office. 
  
 “This is Republican state with Republican leaders,” he said. “We work together to get things done.” 
  
 But there are worries that the money trouble could upend South Carolina’s spot as the first-in-the-South presidential primary — a bellwether that has helped clinch the race for every Republican nominee since 1980. 
  
 “If we fumble in South Carolina, especially after fighting off other states both in 2008 and 2012, somebody can step up and knock South Carolina away, or at least make appeal to the Republican National Committee that South Carolina is not fulfilling its obligation to the party,” Dave Woodard, a political science professor at Clemson University. 
  
 “They’ll say, ‘You need to let us do it’ — us being Florida or some other state,” Woodard said. ||||| Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to veto part of a state budget proposal, now on her desk, that could partially pay for that primary. Connelly is concerned that veto would mean the State Election Commission could not help run the GOP primary, forcing the party to opt for a caucus. 
  
 Without the help of the state, the party may not legally be able to hold a primary in early 2012, Chad Connelly, the recently elected chairman of the S.C. GOP, said Friday. 
  
 State economists added $210 million to the state’s expected income last month. Earlier this month, they said state revenues were running another $100 million ahead of even those projections. 
  
 “It’s a political thing – it has nothing to do with money,” Wentworth said, noting South Carolina’s finances have improved significantly since lawmakers first started drafting a spending plan for the state’s fiscal year that starts July 1. 
  
 Wentworth said the arts are being targeted across the county. 
  
 “Arts would only be available to the elite,” she said. 
  
 “Why are the arts, of all things, considered fluff?” asked state poet laureate Marjorie Wentworth, adding, without the Arts Commission, many small towns could no longer support their arts programs. 
  
 The letter includes a quote from Boeing chairman James McNerney, whose company recently opened a North Charleston plant to produce 787 Dreamliners, saying the arts help inspire the innovation that is the “lifeblood” of that aircraft manufacturer. 
  
 Arts advocates fear Haley will veto $2.1 million for the state Arts Commission. In an attempt to rally legislators to override that veto, they have sent out a letter signed by leading Palmetto State artists, including author Pat Conroy and members of the Hootie and the Blowfish band. 
  
 Your vote has been counted, thank you for voting. 
  
 Switching to a caucus would end the states three-decade tradition of holding the first-in-the-South primary. That primarys importance has been bolstered by state Republican voters record of picking the eventual GOP nominee in every race since Ronald Reagan in 1980. The state also would lose national exposure, prestige and millions of dollars that campaigns, media and others spend during the event. 
  
 The state GOP is just one of several groups anxiously awaiting Haleys first vetoes as governor. 
  
 Before Wednesday, the new governor must sign off or issue vetoes for part or all of a $6 billion general fund budget plan for the states fiscal year, which starts July 1. Other Haley vetoes could target $2.1 million for the state Arts Commission and $56 million in unexpected revenue that state legislators added for K-12 education. 
  
 A two-thirds vote of both the S.C. House and state Senate would be required to override any vetoes. In the past, the Legislature routinely has overridden gubernatorial vetoes. But putting together the super-majorities needed to override vetoes this year could be difficult, legislative leaders say. 
  
 During legislative debates, Tea Party-inclined Republicans, who say the state is spending too much, and Democrats, who say it is spending too little, frequently voted against budget items. As a result, the overwhelmingly Republican House only passed a budget by three votes. 
  
 The process is in jeopardy 
  
 Lawmakers said Haley has given them little idea of what to expect from her vetoes, other than she will not veto the entire budget. However, fiscal conservatives are urging the governor to take a large chunk out of the budget, $1 billion more than last years budget but $1.3 billion less than the amount approved in 2007. 
  
 Haley has targeted publicly a handful of items in the spending plan. 
  
 She repeatedly asked lawmakers not to include any money for the 2012 Republican primary, expected to cost at least $1.5 million. With the state facing an $800 million budget shortfall at one point, Haley argued the state could not afford to host the party event. 
  
 (Unlike 2008, when they too held a much-watched S.C. primary, the cost of holding a primary is not an issue for Democrats. Thats because, with incumbent President Barack Obama unopposed, Democrats dont plan a primary.) 
  
 Lawmakers removed money for the GOP primary that was included in early drafts of the budget, but the budget plan on Haleys desk allows the S.C. Election Commission to spend $680,000 on the primary. 
  
 S.C. GOP chairman Connelly expects Haley to veto that budget reference to the primary. 
  
 Shes got every right to veto anything she wants, Connelly said, referring to Haley, who also is a Republican. We respect that. 
  
 But, he added, We believe the process is in jeopardy. This isnt about the money as much as it is about the legal issue. 
  
 Connelly said changes to federal law mean the S.C. GOP can no longer use less-expensive paper ballots in its primary, as it has did before the state took over the primaries in 2008. Instead, S.C. GOP attorneys and others believe federal law requires the use of paid poll workers and the states electronic voting machines. 
  
 Connelly said he does not know if the party can contract with the State Election Commission to use its resources and oversight. The commission has asked new state Attorney General Alan Wilson, also a Republican, for an opinion about whether it can contract its services to the GOP, spokesman Chris Whitmire said. 
  
 But that is not the only issue that must be resolved, Whitmire said. 
  
 The budget that legislators passed does not compel the agency to assist with the primary; it only says it can use money left over from recent elections to do so. The Election Commission might need to use part of that $680,000 for its own operations, Whitmire said. 
  
 Tough choices or a tragedy? 
  
 In their budget negotiations, Haley urged lawmakers to better prioritize state spending, eliminating spending that was not a core function of government, such as the primary. 
  
 We have to make tough choices that wont make everyone happy, Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey said in a statement, but will keep us from ever ending up in this position again  that means we need to focus on core functions of government, and the presidential primary  which was until recently always paid for by the parties, not the taxpayer  simply doesnt fall into that category. 
  
 Connelly disagrees. 
  
 Connelly said he was in contact with lawmakers about the issue during the legislative session. 
  
 But the two legislative budget chairmen, state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, and state Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Anderson, say the S.C. GOP did not contact them about including money for the GOP primary in the state budget until the night before lawmakers reached a final spending agreement. 
  
 Katon Dawson, who was chairman of the S.C. GOP until May, said running a caucus is not an option. Dawson noted that all three candidates to succeed him as party chairman, including Connelly, promised they would find a way to pay for the primary. 
  
 Raise the money and partner with the Election Commission, Dawson said, when asked what the S.C. GOP should do. Theyre going to have to man up and get the thing done. 
  
 Only a primary  not a caucus  will draw national attention to South Carolina, said Dawson, who recently quit as an adviser to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrichs GOP presidential campaign, and Richard Quinn, a Columbia-based GOP operative who is advising former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsmans Republican presidential campaign. 
  
 It would be the death of a tradition that began after Reagan, Quinn said of ending the primary, which developed the reputation as the place where presidents are chosen. It would be a tragedy, Quinn said. 
  
 Quinn added a caucus likely would not include the independent voters whose turnout built the GOP primary, which does not require voters be registered Republicans to vote. 
  
 Without a primary, Dawson said GOP candidates also will cut their spending in South Carolina. 
  
 This state would lose 100 times the revenue that it costs to run a primary, Quinn said. 
  
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Student:
South Carolina's first-in-the-South Republican primary may no longer be first in the South or even a primary next year thanks to money troubles. GOP Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to veto a budget proposal that provides state funding for the primary, the State reports. The move could force the party to opt for a caucus instead of holding the primary that has been won by every Republican nominee since Ronald Reagan. The state GOP is a long way short of the $1.5 million needed to run the primary. Even if it raises the funds, a proposal for the state election commission to run the primary and bill the party is "as clear as mud" on essential details, the commission spokesman says. The party, however, insists that the primary other states would love to poach will go ahead. "This is a Republican state with Republican leaders,” the state GOP's executive director tells Politico. “We work together to get things done."