S.C. senate race rated a 'tossup'

Inez Tenenbaum offers Democrats their best hope of hanging on to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Fritz Hollings, experts say.

The only question is, can the state superintendent of education pull it off in a state that has been trending Republican for the past 10 years?

The GOP holds the governorship, controls both houses of the General Assembly and has a lock on four of the state’s six congressional seats, as well as the other U.S. Senate post.

“In South Carolina in 2004, she’s going to have an uphill fight,” Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon says. “But she is probably best suited to make that climb.”

The four announced Republican candidates — U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint of Greenville, former Attorney General Charlie Condon of Sullivan’s Island, Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride and Charleston real estate developer Thomas Ravenel — have failed to excite the GOP faithful.

That list has prompted some Republicans to recruit former Gov. David Beasley, who is giving the race a serious look. Initially, they approached former Lt. Gov. Bob Peeler, but he declined.

Many South Carolina Republicans don’t think any of the four current candidates can beat Tenenbaum, and there is GOP polling data to support their concerns.

Consultant Richard Quinn took a survey recently of 300 registered S.C. voters, and it showed Beasley as the only Republican beating Tenenbaum.

Both parties have targeted the race. It is key to determining control of the closely divided Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-48 edge, with one independent who is aligned with the Democrats.

Tenenbaum faces nominal primary opposition from political newcomer Marcus Belk of Camden.

DeMint has angered some prominent Republican legislators and business leaders with his support for free trade measures in the House. Among them are Roger Milliken of Spartanburg, president and chief executive officer of Milliken Inc., and Roger Chastain, president of Mount Vernon Mills.

Tenenbaum, who won more votes in the 2002 election than any Democrat has ever won in South Carolina, would become the state’s first female senator if victorious. She would join a growing number of female senators from the South, including Republican Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

Already, Republicans have geared up to label Tenenbaum as a liberal. The state GOP regularly issues press releases that refer to Tenenbaum as “ultra-liberal.”

And she will quickly discover that she will have to address an entirely different set of issues in a federal race from those she faced when she ran for state office.

Those issues will force her left, undercutting her general election appeal, said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report.

“Her victories as state superintendent of education won’t mean much next year if her GOP opponent paints her as a liberal, the way now-Sen. Lindsey Graham did to Democrat Alex Sanders in the state’s 2002 Senate race,” Rothenberg said. “She’ll have to figure out a way to avoid that tag.”

The South Carolina race is rated a “tossup” by Washington-based political analyst Charlie Cook. University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato says it leans Republican.

If Republicans succeed in making the liberal label stick to Tenenbaum, it will be “very hurtful” in South Carolina, Huffmon said. He characterized her as “probably the underdog.”

he was one for years and still is one in his heart. He only joined the Republican party in the first place so he could win the governorship.

So was Ronald Reagan, and Strom Thurmond to cite a couple. The anti life, anti gun, pro gambling, welfare pushing Dem party left a lot of classic Southern pols behind. DB doesnt talk, act, or walk like a Dem. I will grant he is not a hard core conservative. I think when Sanford and Graham decide who they want to back, you will see movement. Its still anyone's race.

David Beasely is no Ronald Reagan, Phil Gramm or Strom Thurmond (to name but a few): he's George Bush the Elder, only without the intellectual or moral credibilty. He was, is and always shall be a loser. He had his chance and wasted it. We have great candidates running for that senate seat. Why bother with a never-was like Beasely? If he wins the nomination, the race will be a toss up. If someone other than him wins the nomination, it's a slam-dunk for Republicans.

So was Ronald Reagan, and Strom Thurmond to cite a couple.

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