Sir Tom Baxter goes to rescue of Damsel in Distress -- (1) Update on S.C. U.S. Senate Race & (2) Geographically, S.C. isn't far from Ga.; Politically?

In a 9-20-04 post titled "Read 'em and weep. And we're not talking about a poker hand here, but polls on the U.S. Senate race in South Carolina ," we reviewed the plight of South Carolina's superintendent of education Inez Tenenbaum who is the Democratic nominee to succeed retiring Sen. Fritz Hollings.

In the post we noted:

"This summer I thought we had a great shot at winning the U.S. Senate seats in four of our sister states, Louisana, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. I was estatic when Kerry chose Edwards, knowing this had to help in the Carolinas.

"Like the rest of America, South Carolina Democrats had hoped Kerry would relentlessly slam Bush on classic Democratic pocketbook and kitchen table issues -- unemployment, health care, education and Social Security. Not only has then expectation not played out, but Bush is besting Kerry on traditional Democratic issues such as the economy and education.

"If there is relief on the national level, hopefully any resulting rising tide will lift our boat in South Carolina.

"Some S.C. polls are discussed in a 9-20 article in the Augusta Chronicle."

Fortunately, today ajc's Tom Baxter gives us some positive news, reporting that the candidate (as has Kerry) has gone on the attack. In a 9-27-04 ajc article Mr. Baxter reports:

Inez Tenenbaum's U.S. Senate campaign has been a bumpy ride.

Trailing in the polls, [she] has replaced her campaign manager and advertising consultant [again, sounds like Kerry here]. She's struggled to distance herself from John Kerry's presidential campaign [yeah, even this sounds like Kerry until about a week or so ago] while relying on the help of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee to outspend her Republican opponent, Rep. Jim DeMint, more than 2-to-1.

But in the past month, Tenenbaum has put DeMint on the defensive and attracted the attention of Democrats nationally. She has locked in on the Greenville congressman's endorsement of a 23 percent national sales tax, as proposed in the Fair Tax legislation authored by Rep. John Linder of Georgia.

"She seems to have found some traction. I think she's found an issue," said Wolfgang Elfe, a retired University of South Carolina professor and volunteer for Tenenbaum. He said this as he waited at a rally Wednesday in Columbia for Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

The South Carolina race is the first time the Fair Tax idea has been held up to scrutiny in a major statewide contest.

[U]ntil Tenenbaum pounced on the sales tax, most observers thought DeMint's free trade position, in a state which has been rapidly losing textile jobs, would be his toughest issue. DeMint has supported the administration's trade policies and defended outsourcing jobs as a necessary part of the shift to a new economy.

Linder, who has agreed to help DeMint in his campaign, said Friday he didn't think the Republican candidate had been "very adept at responding" to Tenenbaum's attacks.

Tenenbaum's main weakness may be that she's a Democratic candidate in a largely Republican state where most voters have little use for John Kerry. Edwards' appearances at a rally and fund-raiser Wednesday marked the first time either he or Kerry has been in South Carolina since the Democratic National Convention — and that has suited Tenenbaum fine.

The careful distance she has kept between herself and the national ticket in this Republican-trending state was illustrated at Wednesday's rally. Tenenbaum sat off the mainstage with several local Democratic officials, while her opponent in this year's Democratic Senate primary, Columbia Mayor Bob Coble, introduced Edwards.