Allen says GOP can sweep South's Senate seats

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"We want to make sure this country is as competitive as possible; we want to lower taxes, make sure the regulatory burdens are minimal and that we have a sound energy policy," Allen said.

He said Democrats have obstructed Republican legislative efforts and "their only idea is raising taxes, hardly a prescription for making this country more competitive."

Allen is chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Committee, the body that coordinates and helps fund GOP Senate candidates.

David Rudd, executive director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, shot back.

Rudd said his party's polling shows Democratic candidates lead in all open contests in the South, except Georgia.

"That's because Democrats are running on an agenda that will replace the jobs lost during the Bush administration, provide affordable health care, educate our kids and keep our country safe," he said.

Rudd, a Camden native, was a top aide to Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., from 1984-99.

Allen said he expected his party to win the Georgia Senate seat being vacated by conservative Democrat Zell Miller, calling it "the best shot" among the open Southern seats.

South Carolina, where six Republicans are seeking the right to run for the seat of the retiring Hollings, is "a very strong" second most likely pick-up, based on GOP dominance at the state level and President Bush's popularity, he said.

Allen rated Florida and North Carolina next, followed by Louisiana, a state that hasn't elected a Republican senator in a century.

Allen met with reporters before giving the keynote address to the state GOP's 37th Silver Elephant Gala, the party's biggest annual fund-raising event.

Attendance Friday night, in the old Carolina Coliseum, was just over 1,400, said Luke Byars, the party's executive director. Byars said gross revenue would be $500,000 or more.

Today, the party will hold its biennial state convention with approximately 2,000 delegates, alternates and guests expected.

Gov. Mark Sanford will give the keynote address and the party's six candidates for the U.S. Senate nomination will speak.

Heading the convention's agenda will be the election of statewide officers and at-large delegates to the national convention in New York in August.

State Chairman Katon Dawson is unopposed for a second two-year term, but national committeeman Buddy Witherspoon of Lexington is locked in a tight struggle with Greenville lawyer Ed Foulke.

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