WASHINGTON Sen. Jim DeMint's speech next month to an Iowa forum of Republican presidential candidates has fueled hopes among evangelicals and conservative activists that the South Carolinian will launch a White House run.
DeMint, overwhelmingly elected to his second term in November, will deliver the evening banquet address to a dozen GOP presidential hopefuls - and hundreds of party stalwarts - March 26 at a Des Moines hotel, scarcely 10 months before Iowa's leadoff White House caucuses.
In the audience will be Steve Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member from Iowa and an influential evangelical in the Midwestern state.
Scheffler would like to see DeMint, dubbed "the tea party senator" for his unyielding conservatism, throw his hat into the ring.
"He's very highly regarded among activists," Scheffler said. "His running would add a lot to the dialogue, not only in Iowa but across the country. I think he's a voice that needs to be heard."
Scheffler is among a growing number of Republican national committeemen who inquire about DeMint's intentions in talks with Glenn McCall, a Rock Hill retired bank executive who represents South Carolina on the RNC.
"He's extremely well liked by movement conservatives and tea party types across the United States," McCall said.
A DeMint presidential bid could be jumpstarted by South Carolina's early GOP primary - the date hasn't been set - which in recent elections has come on the heels of intraparty voting in Iowa and New Hampshire.
DeMint is ahead of the presidential pack in his home state with 24 percent support, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 20 percent; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 17 percent; and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 12 percent, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-affiliated Raleigh firm.
DeMint, meanwhile, has said he has "no plans to run" for president. But that's just the kind of less-than-absolute denial that translates into "I'm not ruling it out" in Washington.
"I know he says he's not thinking about running, but the door may be open," said Scheffler.
