COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — For five years, Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina's first minority governor, dismissed calls to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse lawn as a divisive issue far from her agenda. In her 2010 campaign, she said the two-thirds legislative approval required to move the flag from its 30-foot perch was too high a hurdle to allow for real debate. When her re-election opponent called last fall for it to be removed, she branded it a desperate stunt. None of that mattered, she said, after nine people were killed last month at a black church in Charleston, including its pastor, State Sen.