Posted on 10/28/2003 11:03:54 AM PST by William McKinley
COLUMBIA--For the past five years, former Gov. David Beasley has been raising his four kids with his wife on their Pee Dee farm, coaching Little League and sometimes traveling to Asia and Africa to do humanitarian work.
His public life has become a distant memory. It is no accident, he said, that he lives far from the "political morass" of the Capital City.
But now he's finding that fate can be something of a wise guy: Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in.
Encouraged and flattered by private polls that say he would trounce every candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, Beasley said Friday that he is giving "serious thought" to entering the race to replace outgoing Sen. Fritz Hollings.
"My wife and I and the children are going to have to give some great thought to it and listen to some of my friends and neighbors across South Carolina," Beasley said. "I love my family, my state and my country. I've got to figure out how best to serve all three, with my family being the priority."
Beasley faces a tough decision about whether to re-enter politics. He lost his 1998 re-election bid in an acrimonious race that centered on two of his toughest calls as governor: his decisions to fight video poker and to try to move the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse dome.
Since then, Beasley has mostly avoided politics. Shortly after his loss, he taught a class at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
In 2000, he joined Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley Jr.'s march to Columbia to protest the Confederate battle flag atop the Statehouse dome, and the next year, he declined an invitation to apply for the Peace Corp's director job. Earlier this year, he received a Profile in Courage Award from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum for his work to move the flag.
The scuttlebutt in political circles suggests Beasley might be back in favor with South Carolina voters, that he looked prescient in retrospect. Part of that is based on rumors of a Senate race poll that basically says the job is Beasley's if he wants it.
Political consultant Richard Quinn told The Post and Courier that he commissioned the poll everyone seems to be talking about, not because he is working for any candidate in the race, but just to "get the lay of the land." Quinn said he routinely conducts such polls.
"This poll is something I did for my own information," Quinn said Friday. "I shared the data with a few friends, and suddenly the news spread like wildfire."
Quinn's poll, which has a margin of error of 3.8 percent, shows Beasley with 24 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, followed by former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler, who recently announced he would not be a candidate, with 16 percent. Former Attorney General Charlie Condon and Congressman Jim DeMint followed with 8 percent each.
In runoff matchups, the polls shows Beasley besting Condon by 14 points and DeMint by 20 points.
A Quinn poll of all registered voters shows that both Condon and DeMint are currently in a dead heat with Democrat Inez Tenenbaum, but Beasley would top the state education superintendent by 10 points.
"Frankly, I was surprised to see him dominating all the other candidates so dramatically," Quinn said.
Beasley said he was surprised to hear the numbers and that he did not ask Quinn to run the poll. Quinn said he added Beasley and Peeler to the list of current candidates because their names had been mentioned as possible candidates.
Tony Denny, former executive director of the S.C. Republican Party, said Friday that he was not surprised by the poll results, which he said he had not seen.
"There is wide agreement among Republicans that former Governor Beasley's stock and standing has risen since his days as governor," Denny said.
Although his overseas goodwill missions and humanitarian aid trips to Africa and China reflect federal concerns, Beasley said he has not made any efforts to return to politics.
"That's just something I like to do," he said. "I think it just makes sense for our children for us to build friendly relations with other nations."
Beasley said he normally "poo poos" private polls and pays little attention to the rumor mill, but he can't ignore the numbers and the rumbling he's hearing. And although he shows no zeal for the politics, he speaks like an elder statesman of the Republican Party when he says that it will take "a good number of people to evaluate the possibility of the Republican Party having a winner," for Sen. Lindsey Graham's vote to not be canceled out by a Democrat.
Katon Dawson, chairman of the state Republican Party, said the poll most likely reflects name recognition this early in the race, and he predicted primary voters would not make up their minds until closer to the election. But Dawson said the party would welcome the former governor into the fray, that it might make this race as interesting as last year's GOP gubernatorial primary.
"We are excited by large, spirited primaries," Dawson said. "It's worked well for us."
Jim Hammond, spokesman for the Tenenbaum campaign, expressed no fear of the former governor getting into the race. The Democrat has pretty powerful statewide support, too.
"Inez Tenenbaum has raised a substantial amount of money in a short period of time and has widespread support," Hammond said. "She got more votes than any other candidate on the ballot in the last election. We feel like she's in a very strong position in this race."
Although Beasley has no organization in place and has not raised any money, most political observers concede it's early. He has until March to file for the June primary. Beasley, with greater statewide name recognition than most other candidates, would not start at much of a disadvantage, especially since Republicans don't seem to be overwhelmed by any of the current candidates.
That is "a plausible interpretation of the numbers," Quinn acknowledged. "It definitely means a lot of Republican voters would be energized by a Beasley candidacy."
Whether Beasley will be a candidate might remain a question for some time. The former governor said he has no time frame for deciding, that it is simply something he must talk over with his family. Then, he has to decide if he's ready to leave his tranquil life for the fast and rough world of statewide campaigning.
He said it won't be an easy decision.
"My life is pretty simple and pretty enjoyable," Beasley said.
But it might soon get a little more complicated.
Beasley said he normally "poo poos" private polls and pays little attention to the rumor mill, but he can't ignore the numbers and the rumbling he's hearing.Sounds like he's in.
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