DeMint leaving Senate to run Heritage Foundation (UPDATE)

I'm glad to see someone of character fill Ed Feulner's shoes; someone who still believes in conservative principles, in both word and deed; as well as views elected office, not as a career, but as service (which speaks to his self-imposed departure from the Senate). At the same time, I'm saddened to see one of the very few respectable U.S. Senators vacate that cesspool in Washington. God knows we need more DeMint's in DC...

WSJ: South Carolina U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will replace Ed Feulner as president of the Heritage Foundation. Mr. DeMint will leave his post as South Carolina's junior senator in early January to take control of the Washington think tank, which has an annual budget of about $80 million.

In an interview preceding the succession announcement, Sen. DeMint said he is taking the Heritage job because he sees it as a vehicle to popularize conservative ideas in a way that connects with a broader public. "This is an urgent time," the senator said, "because we saw in the last election we were not able to communicate conservative ideas that win elections." Mr. DeMint, who was a market researcher before he entered politics, said he plans to take the Heritage Foundation's traditional research plus that of think tanks at the state level and "translate those policy papers into real-life demonstrations of things that work." He said, "We want to figure out what works at the local and state level" and give those models national attention.

Sen. DeMint plans to join Heritage in the first week of January, before the new session of Congress begins.

Rush interviewed Feulner and DeMint on the move this morning...



UPDATE: DeMint wants Gov. Nikki Haley to appoint Tim Scott as his replacement...

TheHill: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has made it known in South Carolina that he wants Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to replace him in the Senate, two state Republican sources tell The Hill.

The sources, requesting anonymity to speak candidly, say Scott is DeMint’s preference for the seat, though the final decision will be Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R). She will appoint someone to serve out the rest of DeMint’s term after he officially resigns from the Senate to take over the conservative Heritage Foundation in January. An election for the seat will then be held in 2014 for the remaining two years of the term.