DeMint has large money, polling lead in Senate run

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Jim DeMint is using the midterm elections to go from mere first-term U.S. senator from South Carolina to a rainmaker for the nation’s tea parties.

DeMint has become a celebrity of sorts amid the conservative uprising in GOP primaries. Weak opposition in South Carolina has left him free to help other campaigns and state Republican parties even as he runs for re-election.

DeMint’s opponents have their work cut out for them. He has more money, is not debating them and a recent poll puts the Republican far out front.

A Winthrop University survey has Democrat Alvin Greene just about even with Tom Clements, an environmental activist on the Green Party ticket. The poll shows DeMint pulling 58 percent of likely voters, with Clements and Greene trailing at 12 and 11 percent, respectively.
   
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