SC: Senate candidates speak to state's progressives

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BY KELLY MORGAN, Special to The Packet
Published Monday, October 6th, 2003

BEAUFORT -- There was little beyond gender to distinguish Inez Tenenbaum from Bob Coble as each Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful addressed a handful of South Carolina progressives at Penn Center on Sunday morning.

Both candidates, running to fill the seat Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings has said he will vacate next fall, took nearly identical stances on the economy, international trade and the war in Iraq as they spoke with members of the South Carolina Progressive Voter Coalition and the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party. The session marked the end of the South Carolina Progressive Network's weekend retreat at Penn Center, which included a presidential candidate's forum Saturday.

"I'm running for the United States Senate because I think our economy is in very deep trouble," said Coble, mayor of Columbia, as he introduced himself to the audience.

He called the country's foreign trade policies "unconscionable," warned against the loss of manufacturing and textile jobs to countries like China and said "the most corrosive thing that will occur in our economy is the federal deficit that is out of control."

more...http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/2923870p-2686071c.html