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Article published Oct 31, 2004
Heated race in last lap
ROBERT W.
DALTON
Staff Writer
In the waning days of the contentious U.S.
Senate campaign, Inez Tenenbaum and Jim DeMint found themselves drawn to
Spartanburg by a Beacon.Make that The Beacon, the famous Spartanburg
eatery.Tenenbaum, the Democratic state Superintendent of Education, visited on
Friday and helped J.C. Stroble bark out peoples' lunch orders.DeMint, the
Republican congressman from Greenville, took a more conventional approach
Saturday morning, addressing supporters from a small lectern.The two will be at
it again today and Monday, criss-crossing the state in hopes of picking up that
one extra vote. On Tuesday, the voters will finally get their say."It all comes
down to who cares the most to vote," DeMint said. "From what I've seen across
the state our team is energized from top to bottom."In perhaps the only moment
of harmony during the campaign, Tenenbaum agreed that turnout is the key."We're
organized and the campaign has such momentum," she said. "You can just feel
it."The harmony, however, came to a quick end."It all depends on whether people
want an independent senator or a person who will vote based on party politics,"
Tenenbaum said.DeMint and Tenenbaum, both 53, have been sparring since June,
when they won the right to face off for the Senate seat being vacated by
Democrat Fritz Hollings.They came out swinging at each other, but it was the
truth that took a beating.The first ad of the campaign, offered up by
Washington-based Americans for Job Security, tried to paint Tenenbaum as a
tax-raising big spender. A later DeMint ad said that in 2003, Tenenbaum
supported the largest tax increase in state history. In reality, Tenenbaum
backed a revenue neutral proposal before the Republican-controlled state
Legislature to raise $1 billion by increasing the state sales tax by 2 cents on
the dollar in exchange for slashing property taxes.DeMint also has aired ads
challenging Tenenbaum's record on education, pointing out that the state remains
50th nationally in SAT scores. The ads don't tell about the 32-point increase in
SAT scores in the six years that Tenenbaum has been education superintendent. By
comparison, scores increased only 10 points in eight years under Tenenbaum's
predecessor, Barbara Nielson.Tenenbaum also went on the attack, flooding the
airwaves with ads claiming DeMint wanted to raise the national sales tax to 23
percent. What the ads didn't say was that the proposal -- one of several tax
reform plans that DeMint signed onto as a co-sponsor -- would eliminate the
Internal Revenue Service and the federal income tax.She also hit DeMint over his
free trade stance, and in ads claimed he told laid off workers to "stop whining
about job losses." The quote was taken out of context -- DeMint actually said it
to David Beasley, his opponent in the Republican primary runoff, and he said he
was referring to politicians who don't offer any solutions.DeMint also caused
himself some trouble when he said that homosexuals and unmarried pregnant women
should not be allowed to teach in public schools."After all the commercials I've
seen about me, I'm not sure I'm going to vote for me," DeMint joked during his
stop at the Beacon Saturday morning.Down the homestretch, DeMint called on some
Republican heavyweights -- Gov. Mark Sanford and Sen. Lindsey Graham -- to boost
his campaign. He also branded Tenenbaum with the "L" word -- liberal -- and
tried to link her to Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.Each side blamed the other
for the tone that the campaign took."The first ad was Jim's friends attacking
me," Tenenbaum said. "We said then that we can talk about taxes, too. He left us
no alternative but to hit back and to hit hard. The people of South Carolina
respect someone who fights back."DeMint said there's going to be some negativity
in every campaign, but that he wasn't prepared for the "outright dishonesty" of
Tenenbaum's ads."That caused us to have to refute the things she was saying,"
DeMint said. "People see through (the sales tax ads) now. They're saying they
get the joke now."Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report, a non-partisan
newsletter based in Washington, D.C., said the race has been tense, but it
barely moves the needle on the nastiness scale."To put it into perspective, in
Kentucky you've got the Democrat calling the Republican mentally unfit to serve
and some Republicans making thinly veiled references to the Democrat's sexual
preference. The South Carolina race has been tame compared to that."The sales
tax ads and DeMint's missteps helped Tenenbaum erase the sizeable lead -- 10 to
12 points -- her opponent enjoyed as the campaign dawned. A Mason-Dixon poll
conducted for the Charleston Post and Courier last week showed DeMint with a 47
percent to 43 percent advantage.Barry Wynn, DeMint's campaign finance chairman,
said Saturday that the gap has widened again. Spartanburg County Republican
Party chairman Rick Beltram said DeMint was up by about eight points.That
squares with the numbers Duffy has."DeMint hasn't opened a wide lead, but I
think it's a steady lead," Duffy said. "I always believed that Tenenbaum had to
go into Election Day with a decent lead to over come the Republican advantage in
the state."Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or
bob.dalton@shj.com.