With President Bush at the top of the ticket, DeMint easily bested Democratic state Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum to replace 38-year veteran Sen. Fritz Hollings.

With virtually all of the vote counted, DeMint had a 10 percentage-point lead over Tenenbaum.

In the final days of the campaign, he made up the ground he lost after his 12-point lead evaporated when he said gays and unwed pregnant women shouldn't teach in South Carolina.

DeMint, South Carolina's 4th District U.S. representative, won big in the Upstate -- a nearly 2-to-1 margin in his home county of Greenville -- and split the Midlands with Tenenbaum.

While DeMint took Georgetown, Berkeley and Dorchester counties, Tenenbaum had narrow wins in Colleton and Charleston counties.

A month out, Tenenbaum made great gains by hammering DeMint on his plan to replace payroll and income taxes with a 23 percent national sales tax, which she said would result in a net tax increase of 95 percent of South Carolinians.

The national parties poured millions into commercials. In the final weeks, DeMint, with the public endorsement of Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, pulled ahead for good.

Now, the conservative Palmetto State has two GOP senators in Washington for the first time since Reconstruction.

With Graham replacing 48-year Senate veteran Strom Thurmond two years ago, South Carolina has lost 86 years of seniority in Congress.

Full story on Page 15A

Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/110304/sta_03senatef.shtml