ABC News-President Obama's Legacy; Blacks Joining The GOP?

Tim Scott, GOP Congressional candidate from South Carolina, and backed by the Tea Party: Bruce Smith/AP Photo

(Story reported by Jake Whitman and Ron Claiborne for ABC News)

In Charleston, S.C., where the Civil War began, conservative tradition is woven deep into politics. It's also where Tim Scott, an African-American, is running for congress as a Republican.

Scott is a conservative with the backing of Sarah Palin and the tea party -- endorsements he says he is proud to have.

"Absolutely, and if you believe in conservative government, if you believe in free market capitalism, if you believe in not spending money you don't have, you're a tea party member as well," Scott says.

Scott beat out a crowded Republican primary field that included the son of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond.

The latest polls in South Carolina show Scott far ahead of his opponent, Democrat Ben Frasier, in a district where white voters outnumber blacks three to one.

If Scott wins, he would be the first black Republican Congressman from the deep south since 1901.

(Click here to read the full story on the ABC News website.)