The focus of the U.S. Senate race between Republican Jim DeMint and Democrat Inez Tenenbaum has been focused on taxes, and that battle continued Monday. "I think it's become a big issue, and it could be a deciding factor," says USC political science professor Blease Graham.
Tenenbaum held a news conference inside a small, community grocery store in Florence Monday afternoon. Next to her was a grocery cart filled with items, each with a large orange sticker that read, "Jim DeMint 23% TAX".
"Jim's plan would mean an overall tax increase for South Carolina's middle-class families," Tenenbaum said. "I believe that middle-class working families in South Carolina pay too much taxes."
But as state education superintendent, Tenenbaum supported raising the state sales tax by two cents in order to raise $1 billion for education.
Asked how she can say she wouldn't raise taxes on the middle class when she supported a tax increase, Tenenbaum said, "When the legislature was looking 2 years ago at money to fund education, we were looking for a way to have a sales tax so property taxes would not go up all over South Carolina. And property taxes have gone up to fund education."
As for how she could criticize DeMint's plan as a tax increase when she supported one herself, she said, "You know what the difference is? Twenty-one cents. That's a huge difference."
DeMint says the plan he supports is not a tax increase. While it would create a national sales tax of 23 percent, the plan would do away with the IRS and all federal income taxes.
While Tenenbaum was inside the grocery store, DeMint supporters were outside, holding a live pony. A sign on the pony read, "Inez's One Trick Pony". The DeMint campaign has criticized Tenenbaum as a "one-trick pony" for focusing almost exclusively on the 23 percent sales tax idea.
Blease Graham says being seen as a one-note candidate could hurt Tenenbaum. "Well, there is that risk, but it may be a reasonable risk, particularly if it can drain some support away from DeMint," he says.
Tenenbaum says her polling shows that's what's happening, with the "one-trick pony" running a dead heat. Other polls show DeMint ahead.
The DeMint supporters outside defended his tax plan, shouting to people going in and out of the grocery, "No more tax on your paycheck! You get to keep the whole thing!"