Hoping for a Senate Seat, the Friendliest of Rivals
Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Representatives Trey Gowdy, left, and Tim Scott, Republican freshmen, each say the other is the better choice for appointment to replace Senator Jim DeMint.
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
WASHINGTON — Representatives Trey Gowdy and Tim Scott, first-term Republicans from South Carolina, are both in the running to replace Senator Jim DeMint when the conservative leaves office next month. But they say they know the best man for the job: the other guy.
“If you were to select the best senator to represent a state with a history as rich but provocative as ours,” Mr. Gowdy said, “you would construct Tim Scott.”
Mr. Scott begs to differ. “I honestly feel that Trey would be an amazing senator,” he said. When you are being considered for such a seat, “most people who call you want you to get the job so they can have yours,” he said. “The two exceptions were my mom and Trey.”
Mr. DeMint’s surprise retirement announcement last week — he will become the head of the conservative Heritage Foundation in January — has left Gov. Nikki Haley in the delicious spot of choosing a replacement who would fill out the next two years of his term and then presumably run to defend the seat in 2014.
Mr. Gowdy and Mr. Scott are on the short list of contenders, which also includes Jenny Sanford, the ex-wife of former Gov. Mark Sanford, who infamously disappeared for almost a week in 2009 to visit his mistress in Argentina; Catherine Templeton, a lawyer who runs the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control; and Henry McMaster, a former state attorney general.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/us/politics/trey-gowdy-and-tim-scott-senate-aspirants-and-friendliest-of-rivals.html?_r=0
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