Mary Higginbotham of Columbia supports Jim DeMint for U.S. Senate and wants other women to look beyond gender in casting their votes in November.

“While we think it’s important to have women in politics, the reason I’m going to vote for someone is the belief they have and the things they’re going to do in office,” said Higginbotham, 31, a public education associate with the National Kidney Foundation.

Higginbotham appeared Thursday at a DeMint campaign event as the Republican congressman from Greenville was spending Thursday and today in a series of high-profile events designed to bolster his standing with female voters.

They included rallies in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville and a fund-raiser with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., on Thursday, and another fund-raiser with first lady Laura Bush, today.

But given that DeMint’s opponent, Democrat Inez Tenenbaum, is a woman, political experts said it will be difficult for DeMint to count on a boost from female voters.

Tenenbaum has a natural advantage among her own gender, said USC political scientist Betty Glad, and prominent Republican political consultant Richard Quinn Sr.

Political polls show “there is a percentage of women who say they would prefer voting for another woman,” said Quinn, who has been involved in nearly every statewide South Carolina election for the past 20 years, although he is not working for DeMint.

That percentage is often as high as 5 or 10 percent, Quinn said. Considering that women cast 55 percent of the votes in the 2002 gubernatorial election, receiving an automatic 5 percent or 10 percent would be a significant benefit for Tenenbaum, Quinn said.

It does not make much difference whether the candidate is a Republican or Democrat, he said.

Glad said women tend to vote for women because many share similar values, “things like education and taking care of the poor, and economic security, while males tend to be more macho and tough.”

But female candidates also face built-in disadvantages, according to a study by the White House Project, a Washington-based bipartisan group that works to improve the climate for women in politics and business.

The group’s study found female candidates:

• Must avoid appearing too casual or too glamorous, as those images undermine their credibility in voters’ minds

• Do not benefit as much from political endorsements

• Do best when they appear in formal settings and wear formal attire

For Higginbotham, a candidate’s gender is not the deciding factor when she casts her vote. She wants women to vote for DeMint because of his positions on issues, “not because of his gender.”

DeMint said men and women share many of the same goals, “but sometimes different ideas on how to get things done.”

And female voters, he said, want to “know you care about what they face every day. It’s important for women that we go beyond talking about problems and actually proposing solutions.”

He said Tenenbaum “is a nice lady, but throughout this campaign, she has attacked my ideas rather than present her own.”

Tenenbaum spokeswoman Kay Packett said that DeMint has spent six years in the U.S. House ignoring the concerns of women and that Dole and Bush will not erase that fact with their visits.

“Bringing in the two nicest women in Washington shows Jim DeMint knows he has a well-deserved political problem with women,” Packett said. “He has an abysmal record on nearly every issue women care about.

“South Carolina women know a cosmetic enhancement when they see it.”

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