South Carolina's U.S. Senate Candidates, Congressman Jim DeMint and State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, conducted their sixth and final debate earlier this evening. Unlike the first debate, in which DeMint made his now infamous remarks about gay teachers, both candidates avoided any major gaffes tonight and basically stayed on message. DeMint reminded us that he will stand with President Bush and the Republican leadership while being an independent voice for South Carolina. Tenenbaum repeated that she will be an independent voice for South Carolina while standing with (but not too close to) the Democrat leadership and, possibly, President Kerry.
One of the more interesting aspects of the debate was the moderation of the debate by WPDE anchor Jim Heath who appeared to be auditioning for South Carolina's version of Tim Russert. Unlike some of the earlier South Carolina news anchors who have moderated these debates, Heath actually asked substantive follow-up questions and tried to badger the candidates to answer his questions. He led off with a series of questions to Tenenbaum that sought to pin her down on her support of Kerry and the Democrat leadership and how that would benefit South Carolinians. Heath then asked DeMint a series of questions based on the criticism that some former Republican congressmen (primarily Joe Scarborough) have had of the free spending ways of the current Republican majority in Congress.
Some other bits:
- DeMint still apologizes for the distraction caused by his earlier comments on gay public school teachers, but not for the sentiment expressed. He was forceful in stating that he would not continue to dwell on the comments because it was a distraction from the more important issues (sounding a little like my earlier suggested response?).
- We learned that DeMint supports allowing U.S. citizens to buy prescription medicine from Canada and other countries. Tenenbaum said that she just wants to find out why citizens can get prescription drugs cheaper in Canada (not her best moment).
- Both candidates spoke highly of Bob Jones University and distanced themselves from Senator Hollings' recent criticism.
- Tenenbaum said that she would not impose a litmus test on judges and that she would look for integrity, fairness, and intelligence in the judges she "would nominate." (Note to Tenenbaum: you won't be nominating any judges any time soon.)
- Both candidates--like many South Carolinians--are undecided on the minibottle referendum.
- DeMint is for school vouchers, and Tenenbaum is against them.
- If elected, Tenenbaum plans "to help the President create an exit strategy" in Iraq. (I'm hoping that, whomever is President, Tenenbaum isn't the one advising him about our exit strategy.)
- Both DeMint and Tenenbaum said that they support having the 10 Commandments in S.C. classrooms and "In God We Trust" on our currency.
In the most bizarre moment of the evening, conservative columnist Armstrong Williams asked Tenenbaum (whom he continually addressed as "Madam Secretary"), "When does conception begin?" When Tenenbaum asked him if he meant "Does life begin at conception?" Williams said, "However you want to phrase it"--or something to that effect. When I relayed this question to my wife, who is a third year medical student, she pointed out that Tenenbaum might not have wanted to get into the specifics of exactly when conception begins on live TV with children possibly watching.
Tenenbaum did turn to the question that Williams had apparently intended to ask and said that "many faiths have many answers" to when life begins. As a Senator, she would be unwilling to impose any one of those answers. Despite those many answers, Tenenbaum stated that she had not figured out an answer for her own self.
DeMint responded that he believes it is "hypocritical to call an unborn child a baby when we want it and a fetus we don't." DeMint said that the focus should be "not when life begins but when love begins."
All in all, a fairly spirited debate. Tenenbaum had a few minor verbal slip-ups and basically seemed to be a little off-balance (especially as she stumbled through her closing statement). On the other hand, by putting in a focused and gaffe-free final performance, Jim DeMint has probably jumped the last major hurdle on his way to the U.S. Senate.
Final Note: The quotes above are based on written notes that I took during the debate so I apologize if they aren't word-for-word accurate.
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