A test for Nikki Haley

Gov. Nikki Haley's rebuttal to President Obama's final State of the Union address is shaping up to be more significant than usual — and not just because she is refusing call it a rebuttal.

The South Carolina Republican doesn't plan on responding directly to Obama's speech to the nation and a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening. Rather, Haley said she would treat the spotlight as an opportunity to present her solutions to the difficult challenges Americans are facing. But Haley's choice to represent the GOP in the rebuttal slot is rich with political undertones that say much about her party as first votes in the presidential primary approach.

New Yorker Donald Trump has dominated the Republican nomination fight. The celebrity businessman made his mark with controversial rhetoric — offensive, many Republicans say — directed at Hispanic illegal immigrants and Muslim Americans. Simultaneously, Haley was establishing a national profile as an inclusive Republican who removed the Confederate flag from the state Capitol and united South Carolinians in the aftermath of the assassination of nine African-Americans by a white supremacist.