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His strength could be his weakness at poll
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| Contributor | SC Moose |
| Last Edited | SC Moose Apr 19, 2004 10:17pm |
| Category | News |
| News Date | Apr 18, 2004 12:00am |
| Description | COLUMBIA - When Greenville congressman Jim DeMint began his race for the U.S. Senate, he planned to follow the blueprint that his former U.S. House colleague and fellow Republican Lindsey Graham had just used to win Strom Thurmond's former seat.
The strategy was to scare potential rivals out of the race by starting early and raising a lot of money.
DeMint announced his intention to run in December 2002, even as Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, Democratic incumbent, still weighed whether to seek a seventh term. By last August, when Hollings said he was stepping down, DeMint had raised nearly $1 million.
But DeMint has been unable to replicate Graham's accomplishment of cruising unopposed to the Republican nomination for an open Senate seat. Instead, former Gov. David Beasley, who entered the race only three months ago, has become the universally acknowledged front-runner.
That has left DeMint fighting for second place and a spot in a runoff.
Neal Thigpen, a political science professor at Francis Marion University in Florence, said he thinks DeMint will have trouble finishing second in the six-candidate field.
"He hasn't got a lot of snap, crackle, and pop; he's no Lindsey Graham," said Thigpen, a Republican. "Of course, none of the rest of them are, either."
Besides Beasley and DeMint, other GOP candidates who will be on the June 8 primary ballot are: former S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon, Myrtle Beach mayor Mark McBride, Charleston developer Thomas Ravenel, and Bluffton businesswoman Benny Orly Davis.
DeMint has built a reputation among many S.C. political observers as a low-key conservative with a broad understanding of federal issues.
"Jim has very substantive things to say; he's deep, he thinks through things very carefully and has strong convictions," said Clemson University political science professor David Woodard, a Republican who considers DeMint a friend.
At the same time, Woodard said, "He's not the charismatic guy who walk |
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