Rob Miller Gets South Carolina Political Bump from Joe Wilson "You Lie!" Moment

Little Known Democratic Candidate Rob Miller Might Get a Seat in the Next Congress

Who is Rob Miller? If you asked Joe Wilson who Rob Miller was, he may have just waved you off a few days ago, maybe even chuckled. After Wednesday evening's "You lie!" performance before a national television audience, a moment that is getting considerable airtime as pundits and news shows and talk shows play and replay it, Joe Wilson might not even want to talk about Rob Miller. Why? Because Rob Miller is the Democratic candidate running against Joe Wilson for the 2nd Congressional District seat in the House of Representatives from South Carolina in 2010. And Rob Miller has gained considerable positive attention since Joe Wilson began receiving considerable negative attention for shouting "You lie!" at the President of the United States.

The Huffington Post reported Thursday that since Joe Wilson's ill-considered words, Rob Miller's website (ActBlue.com) has taken in over $350,000 in donations from about 5,000 different contributors. The Post also stated that most of those contributions came through a site set up by Daily Kos' Kossacks for Democrat Rob Miller (also on ActBlue.com) called "Defeating the man who yelled "liar" at Obama -- Goodbye Rep Joe Wilson."

Rob Miller, a retired Marine, ran against Joe Wilson in 2006. He blogged for the Huffington Post, stating that he had fought in Iraq and helped rebuild that country and had come home to find that the Congressman from his district and his government in Washington were neglecting the same things in his own country. Miller ran his entire campaign without help from the national Democrats and still managed to garner 46% of the vote.

So how much of a boost will Joe Wilson's "You lie!" faux pas give the ex-Marine? Truthfully, it is far too early to tell. Joe Wilson apologized shortly after the Republican response to the President's speech. Although the negative publicity generated by Joe Wilson's words has produced a windfall for Rob Miller's campaign and given him much-needed funds for his campaign war chest, winning a Congressional seat that Wilson has held for ten years will be tough political fight.