Throughout the 20th century South Carolina's economy was heavily dependent on manufacturing, particularly the textile industry. Starting in the 1970s the state started to attract a diversity of new industry with a good business climate that included the lowest rate of unionization, low taxes and willingness to meet employers' needs.

By the 1990s South Carolina had secured an economic and social role in the bustling South Atlantic region, with many newcomers, mostly white, moving to the region to retire and work in its vibrant economy.

Despite this surge in new business, the traditional pillars of the state economy continue to be buffeted. Since 2001 South Carolina has lost an estimated 70,000 jobs, many in the declining textile industry. There is a growing debate about how the outsourcing of jobs is impacting the state's economy.

"In a state that's lost a lot of jobs, it's something that people will listen to," Scott Huffmon, a political science professor at Winthrop University, told the Greenville News. "The average American citizen is not well versed on the international economy, but understands when his job or his neighbor's goes to another country."

On the national level, South Carolinians appear solidly behind President Bush, who won the state 57 percent to 41 percent in 2000. This is not surprising for a state that since 1968 has only voted once, narrowly, for a Democratic presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter, in 1976. Democrats have won no more than 44 percent of the vote in the last three presidential elections.

South Carolinians tend to vote along racial lines. In a state with 4 million people, according to the 2000 census, 30 percent are black, 2 percent are Hispanic and the majority are white. In 2000, whites voted 69 percent to 29 percent for George W. Bush while blacks voted 91 percent to 7 percent for Al Gore.

In the 1940s, black South Carolinians made up a near majority in the state. But with a low number of immigrants and a growing number of white newcomers settling in the coastal resort areas around Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach and suburban areas near Columbia and south of Charlotte, N.C., their numbers are dropping and the state is moving even more solidly into the Republican camp.

The Christian Coalition is also increasing its presence in South Carolina politics. A majority of the state's 88-member delegation to the Republican National Convention in New York City this year was from the conservative religious group. Several are in leadership positions.

"What you have is a group of voters who have finally achieved a prominent place in the party and now have a voice in the decision-making elements of the party," Jim Guth, a Furman University political scientist and nationally recognized scholar on the Christian Right movement, told the State.com in September.

In state elections Democrats have had more success and cannot be completely discounted.

In 1998 Democrat Jim Hodges defeated incumbent Gov. David Beasley 53 percent to 45 percent. Analysts say Beasley lost due to his changing position on the Confederate battle flag and his opposition to video poker. Beasley favored the controversial flag's removal.

The Confederate battle flag is still a disputed issue in the state where the Civil War began. The flag, which had flown over the state Capitol since 1962, was moved to a 30-foot pole on Capitol grounds after a May 2000 state legislature vote. The NAACP, which had organized a boycott of the state, was not appeased. Though in January 2003 the president of the state NAACP said the group would not politically penalize Democratic candidates campaigning there for the February 2004 presidential primary.

1998 also saw the reelection of Democrat Ernest "Fritz" Hollings to a sixth full term by a 53 percent to 46 percent vote over Rep. Bob Inglis. The now retiring-senator's seat is up for grabs in November with popular twice-elected Democrat State Superintendent of Schools Inez Tenenbaum facing three-term Republican Rep. Jim DeMint of the 4th District.

According to political observers, to appeal to South Carolina's conservative voters and win, Tenenbaum will have to balance her projected position as an independent, moderate Democrat, who is, at the same time, accepting a lot of money from Democrats, including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

"She's going to speak for South Carolina, not the national Democratic Party, not for any specific national group. That's what Strom Thurmond did, what Fritz Hollings did, and that's what (GOP Sen.) Lindsey Graham is doing, " former Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian told the Greenville News in August.

Tenenbaum faces an uphill battle as the state went solidly Republican across the board in 2002.

Former Rep. Mark Sanford narrowly defeated incumbent Gov. Jim Hodges 53 percent to 47 percent. Rep. Lindsey Graham, famous for his lead role in the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton, defeated Democrat Alex Sanders 54 percent to 44 percent to replace South Carolina's most famous senator, Strom Thurmond, whose eighth term expired in January 2003.

-- Compiled for the Online NewsHour by Annie Schleicher