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Article published Nov 2, 2004
Day
of decision at hand
JENNIFER HOLLAND
Associated Press
COLUMBIA -- Paul Eberle and George Johnson
sit at opposite ends of their lunch table at a suburban restaurant, reflecting
their divergent support for the candidates in Tuesday's elections.Eberle, 51,
says he wants to give President Bush four more years to fight the war on terror
and send Republican Jim DeMint to the U.S. Senate to back him up.That's exactly
why Johnson, 58, disagrees with his co-worker. He is concerned about the
justices on the U.S. Supreme Court and hopes Democrat Inez Tenenbaum replaces
retiring Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., instead."I really believe Jim
DeMint is an extremely lightweight subservient of the Bush administration," said
Johnson, who works in public relations for an insurance company in Columbia.As
the campaign entered its final hours, DeMint and Tenenbaum barnstormed across
the state, rallying supporters and perhaps influencing a few last-minutes votes.
Both candidates ended up in Greenville, DeMint's turf during his three terms in
Congress.Although recent polls have shown the Senate race is tight, both
candidates appeared upbeat and confident about their chances.DeMint, who was
scheduled to touch down at six airports, stood with two of South Carolina's most
popular Republicans -- Gov. Mark Sanford and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham -- near a
wind-swept tarmac in North Charleston."I think a campaign is probably the
closest a man can ever come to childbirth," DeMint said. "There have been a lot
of labor pains here. It has been a long, grueling experience."Tenenbaum was out
at dawn with U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., shaking workers' hands as they
started their shift at the Westvaco Plant in Charleston before heading to
Florence to talk with women taking a job-training course.Then Tenenbaum, a
two-term state education superintendent who closed the gap in the polls within
the last month, mingled among people with plates full of greasy chicken and
butter beans at a suburban Columbia restaurant."We're just really glad to be
coming into the homestretch with this much momentum," Tenenbaum said as she got
off her campaign bus. "If you spend the last few days just in a whirlwind tour,
it lets people know you're not taking anything for granted and that you will
work extra hard to get their vote."Despite a personal greeting from Tenenbaum,
Brenda Broadwell said she still planned to walk into the voting booth on Tuesday
and make up her mind."I usually do that," said the 58-year-old county government
retiree. "It's just too many negative ads. You don't know what to believe and
what not to believe."The campaign has been intense, knowing control of the
Senate is at stake. The state has been a battleground for both parties, which
have pumped millions of dollars into the race, as well as special interest
groups.Tenenbaum has campaigned throughout the conservative-leaning state as a
self-described moderate who will act independently of her party.But Republicans
have worked to pin Tenenbaum to the liberal stigma of the national Democratic
Party.Tenenbaum caught up to DeMint in the polls after several weeks of bashing
the Republican's proposal to scrap the Internal Revenue Service and replace it
with a 23 percent national sales tax.In North Charleston, Herb Ellis said the
ads hitting DeMint on his tax plan was "a smoke screen put up by his
opponent."The 67-year-old businessman plans to vote for DeMint. "He'll get some
of the regulation and taxes off our backs so we can be more viable in business,"
Ellis said.------
Associated Press correspondent Bruce Smith in North
Charleston, S.C. contributed to this report.