DeMint, Tenenbaum tangle over judges, jobs

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Republican Jim DeMint and Democrat Inez Tenenbaum took their U.S. Senate campaign into new territory Thursday, differing over federal judicial appointments, before stepping back to the more familiar turf of jobs.

With U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., at his side in front of Greenville's Clement Haynsworth Federal Building, DeMint challenged Tenenbaum to declare whether she will be "another obstructionist Democrat" and filibuster against conservative judicial nominees or vote to allow yes or no confirmation votes.

Tenenbaum, campaigning in Beaufort, said she believes votes should go forward, that nominees should be voted up or down.

But, she said DeMint's press conference was geared to distract voters in the Upstate from Wednesday's announcement by Delta Woodside that it would close its Piedmont plant by Nov. 20, wiping out 361 textile manufacturing jobs.

"The very idea for him to be out today talking about judges when one of our major industries is going to close and hundreds are going to lose their jobs is very bad timing," she said.

Terry Sullivan, DeMint's campaign manager, said the press conference had been planned 10 days ago and was not a diversionary tactic.

Tenenbaum's more protectionist views and DeMint's largely free trade positions have been among the key flashpoints in their campaign. Tenenbaum has said she would not vote for trade agreements that could cost jobs and DeMint has said agreements with safeguards will expand markets for the state's exports and generate more foreign investment in quality jobs.

Graham and DeMint sought to use the judgeship issue to link Tenenbaum, who has described herself as "a South Carolina independent," as part and parcel of the national Democratic establishment.

"President Bush's highly qualified judicial nominees deserve an up or down vote," DeMint said. "Mrs. Tenenbaum's refusal to tell South Carolina voters what she will do is concerning. Voters deserve to know if she will stand with Majority Leader Bill Frist and Sen. Graham and give these nominees a vote, or if she'll stand with John Kerry and Tom Daschle and deny them a vote."

But Tenenbaum said she publicly stated her intentions in support of speedy action, weeks ago.

Graham said that of President Bush's 34 federal Court of Appeals nominees, 15 have been blocked by Senate Democrats and 10 have been filibustered.

"First time in the history of the Senate that a political party has decided to block judicial nominees by filibustering" which can only be shut off by 60 votes, Graham said.

DeMint's vote will be needed to break how Democrats have changed 200 years of doing business in the Senate (by) requiring a 60-vote threshold to nominate judges instead of a simple majority, he said.

The location of their outdoor press conference was laden with symbolism.

The Haynsworth Building was named for Greenville's late chief judge of the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals whose nomination to the Supreme Court by President Nixon in 1969 was rejected by the Senate's Democratic majority.

DeMint said, "The Democrats at the time turned him down, even though he was considered one of the best judges in the country, so we're repeating history here, the obstructionist Democrats are playing the same trick again."

Staff writer Dan Hoover covers politics and can be reached at 298-4883.