60-40 FILES:

Democrats hope to retake South with women: South Carolina's Inez Tenenbaum epitomizes a group of conservative women running in the South. (Gail Russell Chaddock, 7/14/04, The Christian Science Monitor)

In her pale-blue silk suit, South Carolina educator Inez Tenenbaum looks out of place alongside the submachine guns and copper moonshine stills at the Criminal Justice Academy here, where she is announcing her anti-crime plan.

But "soft" on crime - or anything else - is a rap she aims to dispatch early in a campaign that could tip the US Senate back to Democrats this fall.

From Day 1 of her Senate race, Tenenbaum, a two-term elected state superintendent of education, signaled that she will not trip up on issues that have derailed Democrats across the South, especially the tag of being soft on crime, weak on family values, or too close to "big spending liberals" in Washington.

"There is no Democratic or Republican way to fight crime, there's only the South Carolina way. We have to put protection of our citizens over partisanship," she said at her June 28 anti-crime event.

It's a theme she hits on every issue: South Carolina first. Political analysts say that it's a shrewd bid to distance herself from national Democrats, such as presidential nominee presumptive John Kerry, who are widely viewed in this state as too liberal.

The top vote-getter in the state, in either party, Tenenbaum represents the new face of a new Southern strategy for Democrats: recruiting strong, independent women who fit the state, even if they are at odds with the national party. [...]

Still, Tenenbaum faces an uphill battle against Rep. Jim DeMint, who soundly defeated former Gov. David Beasley in the GOP runoff on June 22. He currently leads by seven points in campaign polls.

Democrats had dreams of winning this while the GOP hadn't settled on a candidate--now they have and the race is over.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 13, 2004 9:34 PM