DeMint Says Rival Beholden to D.C. Dems

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Republican Senate candidate Jim DeMint, hoping to claim a Senate seat held by a Democrat since 1966, attacked his rival Tuesday as a liberal beholden to national Democrats.

Inez Tenenbaum, the state education superintendent who has campaigned as a moderate Democrat, countered in their second televised debate that the race for the open seat was about "who is going to put South Carolina first."

DeMint said Tenenbaum has made an issue out of being an independent, but said she has supported liberal Democrats such as presidential candidate John Kerry and former President Clinton.

Tenenbaum, who has trailed in recent polls, said she would vote for Kerry, but said she disagrees with his statement that the war in Iraq is the "wrong war at the wrong time for the wrong reason."

"I stand with our troops, and I do believe we have done the right thing," Tenenbaum said. "Now I would like to focus after the election on how do we win this war?"

DeMint, a Greenville congressman, said he will continue to support President Bush, who he said has led the world on the war on terror.