When polls closed Tuesday, Democratic Party officials were genuinely optimistic about state Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum's chances of replacing retiring Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings.

Recent polls showed Tenenbaum running neck and neck with three-term U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, an Upstate Republican who had suffered through a series of political flubs in the waning days of his campaign. Momentum seemed to be on her side.

Two hours later, a stunned Democratic Party watched as its strongest candidate was soundly thumped and its last, best chance at political relevancy was lost for the foreseeable future.

Conventional wisdom is that for a Democrat to win in South Carolina, the candidate must win 93 percent of the black vote and 40 percent of the white vote.

It doesn't hurt to do well with women either.

Tenenbaum carried 16 counties in all, most in the middle of the state. However, she fell surprisingly short on attracting blacks and women, getting about 89 percent of the black vote and only a third of the female vote.

This, combined with the 10-point margin of her loss, has some political observers all but writing the party's obituary.

"It's not dead, but I think it's safe to say the Democratic Party is now relegated to permanent minority status," said Walter Edgar, political expert and author of "South Carolina: A History."

Reached by phone Wednesday, an exhausted Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin said he was disappointed by Tenenbaum's loss but bristled at the notion that the party is on its deathbed.

"Absolutely not," he said. "We're building a base here. There is still work to be done, but we are not rolling over."

Erwin pointed to key victories in the S.C. Senate and House as proof that all was not lost.

Former state Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia, won his race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Warren Giese and Democrat Carl Alexander defeated state Rep. John "Bubber" Snow, R-Hemingway.

Still, most legislative races went to Republicans, many of whom ran unopposed.

DeMint's victory means that for the first time since 1877, South Carolina has two Republican senators.

Of the state's six members in the U.S. House of Representatives, only two are Democrats: John Spratt and Jim Clyburn.

Spratt, 63, is not expected to serve much longer, and most figure a Republican will take his place. He represents the 5th District, in the upper corner of the state, which is split politically. This year six counties in the district went to DeMint and six went to Tenenbaum. Two are still undecided.

The Republican dynasty will last at least six years. DeMint will serve his term; Gov. Mark Sanford is expected to win re-election easily, as is U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham.

If the South Carolina motto, "Once a senator, always a senator," holds true, Democrats will see Washington only on vacations.

"The bottom line is, Democrats can't even get arrested in a federal election these days and that is not likely to change any time soon," said Neal Thigpen, Francis Marion University political scientist.

Thigpen said the same holds true for many state offices. Currently, Republicans control the governor's office, both houses of the General Assembly and all but two constitutionally elected offices: State Treasurer, occupied by Grady Patterson, and State Superintendent of Education, held by Tenenbaum.

South Carolina is the only state of the Deep South where the GOP controls both the executive and legislative branches of government.

Republican strategist Warren Tompkins said Tuesday's coronation of DeMint represented the culmination of a 30-year battle that began with former congressman and Gov. Carroll A. Campbell Jr.

Tompkins was part of a group, including Speaker of the House David Wilkins, R-Greenville, and S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, that helped erase the historic domination of the Democratic Party.

The movement coincided with the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Prior to that, Democrats often ran unopposed in state elections and Republicans were left on the outside looking in.

DeMint's victory places that shoe squarely on the other foot.

"If the Democrats want to get back on the political map, they will have to do what the Republicans used to do, wait for some candidate to implode," Thigpen said. "Hard work won't be enough. They'll need some luck."

A voter breakdown of South Carolina shows that 40 percent of people consider themselves Republicans, 30 percent consider themselves Democrats and 30 percent consider themselves independents.

To College of Charleston political scientist Bill Moore, this means Democrats have a chance.

"They just have to start finding some candidates that can attract these kinds of voters," he said. "But it's pretty obvious that the party will struggle for at least the rest of the decade."

Democrats thought they had found the right candidate in Tenenbaum, a moderate Democrat who sided with the Republicans on a number of issues. They were wrong.

The loss damages what little chance the party had at unseating Sanford in two years.

"I think if Inez had come close to winning, winning about 48 percent of the vote, it would have been a huge moral victory and she would have been the odds-on favorite to oppose Sanford during the next election," Thigpen said. "In fact, that might have been the plan all along. But I'm not sure she can come back from such a huge loss."

However, Tompkins said, governing is a lot different from winning elections. He said that if Republicans aren't careful, they could leave the door open for a Democratic rebirth.

"A lot of Republicans are better at being against stuff than they are being for stuff," he said. "We have a mandate to govern and with that comes a lot of responsibilities."

Voters can turn on the GOP if roads aren't maintained, taxes go up or water doesn't come out of the tap clean, he said.

According to Moore, the political landscape would likely change over the next decade, as indifferent 18-year-olds become concerned adults. Younger people tend to be more liberal on social issues, such as abortion and gay marriages, two issues that played a major role in both the state and national election.

"The cultural difference will play a major role in which party is in prominence in 2010 and beyond," he said. "And the things that matter to today's 18-year-olds are not the same things that matter to the older generation."

Which is probably why Sen. Graham believes the Republican Party needs to become more diverse, especially when it comes to attracting blacks and Hispanics.

"If we're smart and look at this as an opportunity to grow the party, we can maintain dominance for a long time," he said. "We're too white. We're not diverse enough to maintain a sustainable majority."

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