Among our favorite press releases of the past week comes from U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, the Republican facing Inez Tenenbaum for the U.S. Senate.

On Thursday, DeMint called on Tenenbam, the superintendent of state schools, to tone down her “increasingly partisan and heated rhetoric.”

“Name-calling never helped anyone get anything done,” the statement quoted DeMint as saying.

Of course, using names such as “flip-flopper” and “wishy-washy” worked well for DeMint when he used them against David Beasley in the primary.

THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION

Members of Gov. Mark Sanford’s Cabinet never seem to learn. Every time the governor shows up at one of their meetings dressed casually, the suit and tie wearers in the room seem surprised.

Sanford’s most recent Cabinet meeting was no exception.

As Sanford walked in, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and khakis, Commerce Secretary Bob Faith — nattily clad in blue suit — quipped, “We’d appreciate a memo in the future.”

Sanford said he had a good excuse.

“Since Jenny put mold in the house, we’ve been stuck,” Sanford said.

Jenny is first lady Jenny Sanford, but the mold in the Governor’s Mansion was not placed there by her. Still, it has forced the first family to vacate the premises. Sanford has been living in the mansion’s pool house in the interim.

Faith doubted the story, though. “I guess mold shows up more in dark suits.”

WILL GOVERN FOR FOOD

The mold also is affecting the governor’s eating habits.

“Jenny and the kids continue to be at the beach. The hot plate is getting old,” Sanford told his Cabinet. “It’s hot meals I’m looking for.”

No one at the table immediately spoke up to invite Sanford to dinner.

When The Buzz offered the governor a meal, Sanford at first seemed surprised and then promised to “take you up on that.”

But Sanford communications director Chris Drummond called later to say it wouldn’t happen because a member of the governor’s communications team would have to come along, too, to make sure the governor didn’t say anything he shouldn’t.

NOT EVERYONE APPEARS HAPPY

Four years ago, one of the hottest, most unusual political campaigns in the state played out in Goose Creek as Rep. Shirley Hinson and her estranged husband faced each other in a GOP House primary amid allegations that she had an affair with James Law, then a legislator from a neighboring district.

Hinson and Law say they didn’t. Then earlier this summer, the couple returned from the Bahamas fresh from saying, “I do.”

“We’ve known each other for so long, and we just decided we wanted to do this,” said Hinson, R-Charleston. “I wish this much happiness for everybody.”

“We are tickled to death about it,” said Law, a Moncks Corner Republican.

Two years before facing his wife in the GOP primary and runoff, Jimmy Hinson had been arrested on charges he’d made a telephone threat to Law. Sworn court statements from a detective noted late-night meetings between his wife and Law.

So news of the marriage “proves what I said all along,” the former school principal said. “There was something going on.”

Shirley Hinson said again recently that she and Law were never romantically involved before her divorce with Jimmy Hinson. “It is the truth still,” she said.