Trade key issue in S.C. GOP Senate race

WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- A split on trade issues dominates the South Carolina GOP Senate primary, with U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint and ex-Gov. David Beasley on opposite sides of the debate.

Beasley is running pro-protectionist television ads featuring an abandoned South Carolina textile mill to convey the message that trade agreements are hurting the state's economy. DeMint, a member of the U.S. House since 1998, is taking the opposite approach with ads showing foreign-owned plants now operating in South Carolina to illustrate the benefits of free trade.

South Carolina's almost 7 percent unemployment rate will, some analysts say, influence the outcome of the GOP primary which may turn on which approach -- trade laws that help protect existing jobs or trade laws that help generate new jobs -- voters find more credible.

"It's a very complex issue, GOP pollster Whit Ayers told the Charlotte Observer. "You look around the Upstate and you drive past a closed textile mill ... then you drive right past a BMW plant or ... or some other plant that's providing jobs as a result of foreign investment."

Most polls show DeMint and Beasley leading the crowded field of Republicans all vying for the GOP nomination in the June 8 primary.