Who is Jim DeMint?

The senator from South Carolina

OCTOBER 22, 2010 8:39 a.m. (2)

Jim DeMint is riding a tea party wave into national prominence that could see him go from Republican outsider to a powerbroker in the United States Senate, political observers said last week.

If DeMint’s stable of tea party insurgents win on Nov. 2, he could become the leader of a coalition of hyper-conservatives with tremendous power in a sharply divided Senate.

Currently, he enjoys regular Republican support from Sens. Tom Coburn and James Inhofe, both of Oklahoma.  Continue reading...

 

Gowdy goes to Washington

The freshman congressman talks values, voting and his dream for District 4

NOVEMBER 16, 2010 8:18 a.m. (4)

You can almost see Jimmy Stewart in his role as Jefferson Smith smiling in the background when Trey Gowdy talks about his plans as the newly minted Congressman from the 4th District.

On a surface level, at least, there are seeming similarities between Gowdy’s vision of his role as a congressman and the naïveté of the Boy Ranger leader turned senator portrayed by Stewart in “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.”

Certainly, there is dead-ringer likeness between Gowdy and the movie character in passion for ideals and it was ideals that propelled Gowdy to his stunningly one-sided victory over veteran congressman Bob Inglis in the June primary runoff.  Continue reading...

 

Conservatives want to get the tea party started

Spartanburg tea party focuses on county

JUNE 23, 2011 9:58 a.m. (1)

The Spartanburg Tea Party has turned its attention to the local scene, bringing its grand experiment in smaller government and lower taxes to the county level in a way that even conservative Spartanburg has never seen before, observers say.

In Spartanburg County employees have not had a raise in five years and yet council, with hearty tea party applause, has passed a tax cut for the next fiscal year.

“The last real tax increase we had in my 17 years on council was the road use fee,” said council Chairman Jeff Horton. “But I don’t think the tea party has that much influence with the council itself. We’re a pretty conservative bunch, overall.”  Continue reading...