CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A former governor of South Carolina whose political career and marriage crumbled after he was caught sneaking away to Argentina to visit his mistress is bidding for redemption Tuesday as voters choose a representative in the U.S. Congress.
Mark Sanford, once mentioned as a potential Republican presidential contender, was brought low in 2009 after he disappeared for five days, telling his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He returned to admit he had been visiting his mistress -- to whom he is now engaged.
Sanford later paid a $70,000 ethics fine, the largest in state history, for using public money to fly for personal purposes. His wife Jenny divorced him.
Now Sanford is in a tight race for the 1st District congressional seat he held for three terms in the 1990s.
"It's going to be a close election" said Gibbs Knotts, chairman of the Political Science Department at the College of Charleston.
"It will depend on turnout. I'm sort of wondering if the moderates are going to hold their noses and vote for Sanford because he ultimately lines up with their policies."
Sanford faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist and TV personality Stephen Colbert; and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt.
Sanford, 52, survived a 16-way Republican primary and a runoff between the top two finishers, while Colbert Busch swept 96 per cent of the vote in the Democratic primary.
Colbert Busch, 58, has picked up the endorsement of The Post and Courier, the Charleston newspaper calling her "a welcome tonic" for those who suffer from what the editors called "Sanford Fatigue -- a malady caused by overexposure to all of the cringe-worthy details of his 2009 disgrace as governor, his ongoing efforts for redemption via the political process, his resurgent personal problems, etc."
In his campaign, Sanford has tried to focus on his belief in cutting government spending and balancing the budget.
Three weeks before the special election, however, news surfaced that Sanford's ex-wife had filed a court complaint alleging he was in her house without permission in violation of their divorce decree. Sanford must appear in court Thursday.
Sanford says he was there so his youngest son would not have to watch the Super Bowl alone.
"If Sanford wins it's a story about the fundamentals. This is a district that was designed to be a Republican District and they will have sent another Republican to Congress," Knotts said.
If Colbert Busch wins, he said, "it's a referendum on Sanford's past: just too much baggage, and the trespassing allegations got him talking about his past when Sanford is best when he is talking about size of government and the budget deficit."
