Some senators have been college professors. Others, such as Democrat Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, have served on education committees for decades. Others were governors, considered by some to be their state's top education advocates.

The closest any incumbent has come to running an education bureaucracy is Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who during the early 1990s, briefly served as the appointed U.S. secretary of education under the first President George Bush.

Democrats say the lack of "real-life" education experience among the rest of the Senate makes Tenenbaum a valuable commodity since oversight of thousands of students, teachers, schools and programs that bring them together is run through her office.

"If Inez Tenenbaum is elected she would be the person in the U.S. Senate with the most practical, most localized education experience," said Brad Woodhouse, spokesman for the Democratic National Senatorial Committee.

Republicans who back incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint of Greenville, say Tenenbaum's resume counts for little in terms of Washington significance.

"Look at the work she has done versus for the work she was elected to do," added Daniel Allen of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "Judge by the SAT scores that were recently released. Her record has been dismal for the students of South Carolina."

SAT results show the state dipped to 50th in the nation behind Georgia after five years of gains. But PACT scores released last week, which measure how South Carolina students perform under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, went up in most parts of the state.

While party spokesmen bicker over who is better qualified, education advocates say a key dimension of this year's Senate race is that unlike previous years, the next crop of senators will play more of a hands-on role in shaping education initiatives.

Largely because of President Bush's NCLB initiative, which put every school district in the nation under a federal microscope, the federal government has even greater control over local education. Passed by the House and Senate early in Bush's term, it consolidated dozens of programs into five general grant categories and called for testing of students annually to hold schools accountable for how much students learn in reading and math.

The effort, which Bush carried to Washington from Texas where he served as governor, was designed to concentrate resources where they are needed: failing students and districts with large numbers of poor children.

Partisans from both sides say NCLB was a good start but add it's time for further reforms where school districts are graded less on compliance and goals and more on creativity. The question for South Carolina voters is, who comes best equipped to do it?

Tenenbaum's first bid at state politics came in 1994 when she ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. Four years later, she ran for superintendent of education, won, and was re-elected in 2002 against minimal Republican opposition.

While South Carolina has a reputation for low test scores and teacher pay, Tenenbaum says there have been significant gains in both as a result of her efforts and those of the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

"Some people become so accustomed to criticizing our schools that they refuse to see the real progress we've made," she said.

Until this year's dip, SAT scores for college-bound students had gone up 38 points in five years. Additionally, the state has been ranked first for improving teacher quality in the past two years, and it ranked third in the number of teachers certified under the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Tenenbaum supports the blueprint of NCLB because it creates standards, goals and seeks measurable achievements, she said. The drawback, she said, is that it's been under-funded by billions of dollars, putting some of the burden on local districts and taxpayers to meet federal requirements. She wants it to have a more consistent source of funds.

Tenenbaum says NCLB penalizes South Carolina because each state sets its own standard by defining where a student is "educationally proficient" in science, math, reading and writing. South Carolina's proficiency standards are higher than other states, she said.

Her advantage when education issues arise, she said, is knowing the language of education and what initiatives work best in the classroom.

"You know immediately the education programs and you know the system,'' she said, "and you know where the priorities should be in any budget."

DeMint counters that his resume makes him more qualified in education. He has served on the House Education and Workforce Committee for the past six years after winning his first try at high office in 1998.

As a congressman, DeMint helped write part of the NCLB legislation. If he makes it to the Senate, he said that wherever possible he wants to encourage looser restrictions at the federal level in how previously slotted money can be spent locally.

"It really should come to the states to give the states the flexibility to develop alternative and specialized programs," he said. He endorses the concept of school vouchers and backs expansion of charter schools.

DeMint, a father of four, sent his children to small Christian elementary schools and public high schools. He served 18 months as an adjunct professor at Furman University.

He blames educational inadequacies on "teachers' unions and the education establishment" that he says work to protect their jobs and blunt changes in the status quo. Tax incentives, he said, would encourage businesses to invest and become partners with high schools.

DeMint downplayed Tenenbaum's six years of running South Carolina's public schools, saying he has more experience at the federal level.

University of South Carolina political scientist Brad Gomez said education isn't the overriding issue for most voters in a U.S. Senate election, while the economy and the war on terror remain uncertain. But it could be a deciding factor for a key sector of this year's electorate: young parents who are swayed by whether they approve of what's being done at the school down the street.

"Is education one of those issues that voters take into account? If they have young children, they do," he said.

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