Campaign Journal: The bane of Bain

There's still a bit of suspense on the South Carolina Republican primary, but you wouldn't know it if you were hanging around the DNC folks. Here as in the earlier venues of the nomination fight, they've been stalking Mitt Romney non-stop.

On Wednesday, under the rotunda of the historic Capitol building in Columbia, former Democratic Gov. Jim Hodges joined several Democratic legislators in demanding that the former Massachusetts governor release his tax returns. Noting that Mr. Romney had said that he would release at least one year's tax data in April, Mr. hodges said, "That's far too late."

Echoing an argument made by Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry the previous day, he insisted that South Carolina voters needed to know more about the front runner before they vote on Saturday.

Spotlighting Mr. Romney's record at Bain Capitol, Mr. Hodges contended that said that the personal tax records are particularly relevant since Bain frequently took advantage of tax breaks in reorganizing the companies it took over.

"He's taken advantage of the system," the former governor said. "His record as a corporate raider had had devastating consequences. "