CONWAY — Jim DeMint wanted voters to know he is the only candidate for U.S. Senate in South Carolina to support President Bush.

Inez Tenenbaum wanted them to know she is the only candidate who could work with any president.

Those are the messages the Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively, hoped voters who watched Monday night’s sixth and final Senate debate carried with them when the cameras stopped rolling.

One week from today, those voters will decide which message resonated best.

The hour-long debate from the campus of Coastal Carolina University touched on many issues, from tax policy to the war on Iraq to protecting and growing the tourism industry that is so vital to the coastal region.

But afterward, when asked what they most hoped viewers learned, the two candidates stuck to the familiar.

“It is an issue of who you support for president,” DeMint, the Republican, said. “It is a team sport in Washington, no matter what you say.”

Tenenbaum, the Democrat, wanted “people to recognize I am very sincere about being an independent vote. Jim tried all night long to paint me as” nothing but a party loyalist.

And for the first time in six debates, the candidates dealt with a question about race and prejudice in South Carolina.

Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist Armstrong Williams, a native of Marion, asked Tenenbaum what impact race has on the “success or failure of an individual” in South Carolina.

Tenenbaum said race should not be a factor, and in her role as state education superintendent, “I have worked hard to close the achievement gap.”

Prompted further by Williams, Tenenbaum said, “Every child is equal in my eyes.”

DeMint went a step further: “The answer is, it shouldn’t matter, but it still does. It doesn’t matter to the degree it used to. As long as there are differences, people are going to discriminate.”

DeMint again was faced with questions about whether he was being discriminatory earlier this month when he said gays, lesbians and single women who have children should not be allowed to teach in public schools.

While DeMint later apologized for the statements, saying they “detracted from the debate” of the campaign, he continues to be pressed about whether he was apologizing as well for the substance of his remarks.

Moderator Jim Heath asked DeMint to say whether he agreed or disagreed with this statement: “Jim DeMint, the man in your heart does not want homosexuals teaching your kids. And you don’t want unwed pregnant women teaching your kids.”

DeMint said, “I apologized for my remark. It’s not for me to decide who’s teaching in public schools.”

When Heath pressed him, DeMint said, “I wish I had not said the remark, and my apology is to all the voters. That’s my apology, and I’m going to stick with it.”

On other topics, the candidates also found little to agree on:

• Williams asked if they would support legislation to prevent detainees in the war on terror at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from suing the U.S. for damages and for a return to Afghanistan.

DeMint said he would not support any bill “that would open the courts to these combatants. Our president and military should make the decision on how they’re dealt with.”

But Tenenbaum said, “The United States of America should have fair hearings for everyone and due process offered for everyone. These people should be able to have due process and return to their country if they’re not a threat to the United States.”

After the debate, her campaign spokesman said Tenenbaum does not support letting terrorists go and does not support letting them sue for relief.

• On school vouchers, DeMint said he supports them; Tenenbaum said she opposes them.

Finally, in a rare moment of levity in what has been a tense campaign, the candidates were asked, “What is the best thing” about their opponent?

DeMint quipped, “The best thing is she keeps saying the same thing over and over. No, she’s been very friendly, and we’ve had a cordial relationship.”

“He is a nice man,” Tenenbaum said. “Let me tell you why. You have a wonderful wife and four wonderful children.”

Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658 or asheinin@thestate.com.