Beasley torn by Senate overtures

e-mail this story Dan Hoover • Beasley torn by Senate overtures (11/09/03) • Metro areas alter South's political landscape (09/28/03) • Good news, bad news for Edwards (09/20/03) • Faith's optimism on auto park tempered by Sanford (08/24/03) • GOP gleeful at possible Dem strife (08/16/03)

Republicans already in the running to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Ernest F. Hollings are putting a good face on the prospect of a seasoned, high-profile interloper.

"He would start with a lot of name recognition, so that would make it a lot harder, but I'm going to have to come from behind on name ID anyway," said the widely acknowledged front-runner, U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint.

"I still feel real good about my chances," said DeMint, whose early start locked up major elements of the Republican finance establishment.

Beasley backed removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome and took on the then powerful and cash-rich video poker industry as his 1998 re-election bid dawned. A sense among some Republicans — that Beasley now acknowledges — that he was isolated from them by an "overprotective" staff didn't help either. "I lost touch with a lot of friends" because of that, he said last week.

Heritage groups, normally in the GOP fold, attacked him, the video poker moguls poured in vast, unreported sums to boost Democratic candidate Jim Hodges' campaign, and many Republican activists just yawned. Others defected.

Vindication?

Now, video poker is illegal, the flag has been moved, and Republican Mark Sanford ousted Hodges a year ago.

There's a certain vindication there, some activists say. Beasley calls it "very comforting" to see how the things he sought have come to pass.

If there is a next time around, Beasley wants to make sure his entire record as governor is explored. His property tax rollback, top-rated job growth, welfare reductions and anticrime legislation, he concedes, may "have been mishandled, from a public relations aspect."

As a senior adviser to Merrill Lynch, Beasley, now 46, works out of a Darlington office and his Society Hill home, traveling to New York and elsewhere as necessary. It's a position he says is rewarding, while allowing plenty of time with his wife, Mary Wood, and their four young children, plus missionary work and tending to Beasley family business interests in banking and land management.

"Life's been very tranquil and serene for us," since he left office in January 1995. Another campaign and service in the Senate would "not be an easy situation" from a family standpoint.

But what he says is a burgeoning tide of calls from old political allies and an independent poll brought to his attention by Columbia consultant Richard Quinn have taken Beasley to the brink of a comeback bid.

'Serious evaluation'

The poll showed Beasley with 24 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, followed by former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler, who decided against the race late last month. DeMint and former Attorney General Charlie Condon had 8 percent, or half of Peeler's showing. Also in the race are Charleston developer Thomas Ravenel and Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride.

"I'd be doing the citizens of South Carolina a disservice if I don't give it serious evaluation," Beasley said last week. While there's no time frame for making a decision, Beasley knows the clock is ticking so "this is not going to linger on."

"The poll does raise some questions" about electability and how Republicans assess the current four-man field, "fine fellows" all, Beasley said.

Randy Page, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's chief of staff and a former Beasley aide, has been in contact with Beasley and described the former governor's deliberations as "pretty serious."

"He's extremely intrigued," Quinn said of Beasley's approach to the overtures.

To Chip Felkel, a Republican activist who heads a Greenville public affairs firm, "There's clearly a concern out there that some of these candidates have not caught fire, and that's why you're at least seeing people talk about David Beasley running."

Time and events have politically rehabilitated Beasley, said Felkel, who added that he's not pushing the former governor's candidacy.

"Two of the issues that caused him the most trouble — the Confederate flag and video poker — have both been, in a lot of people's minds, rectified. And people have short memories," Felkel said.

Rejected by some

Beasley was never embraced by some old-line Republicans who were suspicious of his Democratic roots, irked by a perceived appearance — to some — of opportunism, and his unabashed Christian faith.

"They never were for me and were upset by my administration (but) that comes with leadership," he says, dismissively.

Columbia consultant Warren Tompkins, who helped put Beasley in the Governor's Office nine years ago, doesn't buy the theory that GOP voters are put off by the current field.

What's at work among the active contenders and Beasley, and probably with Peeler, was a sense of the long-term closing of political opportunity, said Tompkins, who supports DeMint.

Federal officeholders in South Carolina tend to stay around a long time, 48 years for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, 37 for Hollings.

"The realization set in with this one that if I don't do it now and take my shot, I'm boxed out for a long time," Tompkins said. Not enough time has elapsed for a enough Republicans to have forgotten Beasley's perceived missteps of tackling the flag and the former video poker behemoth, plus an assortment of lesser gripes, Tompkins said.

"I don't think he's done anything to erase those opinions and attitudes. In his own personal interests, it's not the right time to get involved in politics again," he said.

Skeptics remain

"There's no worry about the strength of the existing field," said Warren Mowry, former Greenville GOP chairman. Seven months from the primary, "nobody's paying attention."

Beasley should reconsider, he said.

"Missionary work is fine, but he's been up there at the Kennedy School, getting the Profiles in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy folks, and I just don't know how that's going to sit with the average Republican in South Carolina. He's kidding himself if he thinks that's going to be a help," Mowry said.

But Beasley says the polls and the interest his potential candidacy has stirred means "there are people out there still willing to vote for me."

Dan Hoover's column appears on Sunday. He can be reached at (864) 298-4883 or toll-free at (800) 274-7879, extension 4338, and by fax at (864) 298-4395.