CHARLESTON — Fritz Hollings finally found the stump Tuesday as Democrat Inez Tenenbaum and Republican Jim DeMint launched the final week of campaigning before the U.S. Senate election.

Hollings, the retiring Democrat whom Tenenbaum and DeMint want to succeed, made his first public appearance with his preferred successor on the campaign trail at the historic Dock Street Theater.

And he did not disappoint those who came to hear a frank — albeit biased — assessment of the race.

“Jim DeMint says we’ve got to get rid of the jobs faster,” Hollings said, blasting the Greenville congressman’s support for more open trade with China.

DeMint has supported a plan to scrap the IRS and replace most federal taxes with a 23 percent national sales tax. But, as it has become a campaign liability, Hollings said, DeMint wants to distance himself from the plan.

“He’s trying to slip away,” Hollings said, by enlisting Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for a campaign commercial promising DeMint will not raise taxes.

“Ask either of them if they’re for a 23 percent sales tax,” Hollings said. “No, they aren’t.”

Along with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, Hollings urged the crowd of about 25 supporters and staffers to vote for Tenenbaum.

Tenenbaum asked for one more week of work and support from those gathered along Church Street. She also continued to strike out at her opponent.

DeMint, she said, “has a lot of big ideas that sound good in Washington, but we need a senator that puts South Carolina first.”

Meanwhile, DeMint worked his way up and down the South Carolina coast Tuesday, telling supporters at a Myrtle Beach pancake house that the race is “too close to relax.”

With most polls showing DeMint with a slight lead, both candidates will traverse the state in the coming days to pull in the last-minute support of undecided voters and work their bases to get out and vote.

“You know the sky is the limit,” DeMint said at Hot Stacks on Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach. “That’s what President Bush is talking about.”

South Carolina cannot afford to send a senator to Washington who will vote for a Democratic leader of the Senate, DeMint said.

“First vote you make as a senator is the most important vote you make your whole term,” he said. “She says she’s independent, but, folks, I’ve never seen a more scripted Democrat in my life.”

Bob Garrison, 70, of nearby Murrells Inlet, did not need convincing. Wearing a Bush/Cheney ball cap, he said he was there to lend DeMint “moral support.”

“The guy has worked so hard,” Garrison said.

Elizabeth Temus, 21, traveled much farther to support DeMint. An intern in Washington, Temus is from the Seattle area but came to South Carolina this week to volunteer for DeMint.

“I’ve heard great things about the issues he’s championing.”

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