One congressional candidate is a former Republican governor seeking redemption after his career imploded in a public scandal involving lies, a mysterious absence and an Argentine mistress. His Democratic opponent is a famous TV comedian’s sister who’s trying to benefit from her rival’s damaged reputation.
In a bizarre campaign that has roiled South Carolina, Mark Sanford and Elizabeth Colbert Busch are in a surprisingly contentious contest for a U.S. House seat in a solidly Republican district that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney carried by 18 percentage points last year.
Tuesday’s special election is for the seat that Republican Tim Scott held until he was appointed to the Senate after Sen. Jim DeMint resigned to head a conservative think tank. The race has been jumbled by expected low turnout, Sanford’s past and an aggressive late-in-the-game Democratic ad campaign to exploit it.
If Colbert Busch wins, she instantly will become one of the most endangered Democrats in the 2014 elections. If Sanford wins, it will mark a career turnaround.
Colbert Busch is the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, the star of Comedy Central’s cable TV show “The Colbert Report.” She took a leave of absence from her position as the director of business development for Clemson University’s Wind Turbine Drive Testing Facility to run for Congress.
Early on, Sanford, a three-term congressman before he was governor, appeared to have a significant edge in the district he once represented along the Atlantic coast. He beat back primary challengers with a plea that voters give him a second chance. But all that changed a few weeks ago with the revelations that his ex-wife had accused him in court documents of trespassing at her home on Super Bowl Sunday.
Sanford disputes that, but has struggled to explain the alleged episode that reminded voters of the 2009 scandal in which he used a story about hiking on the Appalachian Trail to cover up a visit to his then-mistress in Argentina. Sanford avoided impeachment but was censured by the Legislature over using state travel funds, and he paid a record ethics fine.
After the trespassing allegations surfaced, national Republicans, struggling with a poor showing among women voters in last year’s presidential election, quickly pulled advertising dollars, making it clear that they didn’t think Sanford could recover. Democrats have tried to take advantage of the moment, airing TV ads assailing Sanford for betraying the voters’ trust.
After initially declining to make Sanford’s dalliance an issue, Colbert Busch changed course last week, telling voters during a televised debate that Sanford used taxpayer money to “leave the country for personal purpose.”
It was likely no help to Sanford when Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt recently endorsed him, calling him “America’s great sex pioneer.”
Sanford, once considered a potential presidential candidate, twice won the state in his gubernatorial campaigns by leveraging a huge bank account that swamped opponents. Now, he’s accusing Democrats of trying to buy the district and complaining about “a million dollars’ worth of spending dumped on my head.”
He’s also trying to tie his opponent to U.S. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, appearing at events with a cardboard cutout of the former speaker.
Despite the spending and his past, Sanford still could win. He is well-known in the Charleston-area district, having represented most of it for three terms in Congress during the 1990s.
On his final sprint, Sanford is pressing a conservative message, pledging to pare government spending.
Colbert Busch largely has stuck to issues such as job creation and debt reduction, saying, “We’re staying focused on what the district wants.” she told reporters
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