DeMint neglects S.C., senate candidate says
Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 8:51PM By Anna Douglas
Tom Clements
Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina is AWAL, Tom Clements told students and faculty on a campaign stop at Winthrop tonight.
Clements is the Green Party candidate running against Republican incumbent DeMint and Democratic nominee Alvin Greene for the U.S. senate seat.
“I feel morally compelled to be in this race,” Clements said.
Clements, 59, said DeMint has taken S.C. voters for granted and has spent at least $2 million campaigning for Tea Party candidates in other states.
“(He’s) trying to gather power and influence for himself,” he said.
When it comes to talking issues with constituents, Clements said DeMint is “laying low.”
Aside from Clements’ claim that DeMint has neglected South Carolinians, the Georgia native said he and DeMint are politically opposite.
Clements supports the Federal Department of Education, a department DeMint told CNN this month he thought hurt education.
While Clements said he thinks federal funding and guidelines for education are important, he said acts such as No Child Left Behind and President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top program need revision.
Clements criticized DeMint’s voting record, which he said supports giving tax breaks to companies who ship jobs overseas and ignores environmental issues.
“He could care less about the environment,” said Clements, who is opposed to off-shore drilling on S.C.’s coast and serves as the citizen watchdog for a nuclear waste site near Aiken, S.C.
The crowd in Kinard Auditorium was small and Clements recognized the senate race was a “long shot” for him to win.
A Winthrop Poll released this month showed Clements with 22 percent of votes from S.C. Democrats and almost 16 percent of votes from Independents.
The poll showed DeMint ahead among all voters by 46 percent.
Winthrop’s SEAC, Student Environmental Action Coalition, hosted Clements on campus. The group’s president, Lorena Hildebrandt introduced Clements saying he is the “only voice of reason” in the current senate race.
