Carolina in Their Minds

The Bush administration is unhappy about a new ad campaign attacking its plan to move some 30 tons of plutonium from Colorado to South Carolina for temporary storage. The campaign was launched last week by South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges (D), who opposes the plan, fearing that his state could become the permanent resting grounds for the radioactive waste. The feds have declined to guarantee that that won't happen, so Hodges has taken his case to the airwaves, asking South Carolinians to tell the U.S. Department of Energy to store the waste ... somewhere other than South Carolina. The DOE blasted the ads, accusing Hodges (who's up for reelection in the fall) of politicizing matters of national security and foreign policy.