The quest for redemption continues.

In the final test tonight, the voters of South Carolina’s first Congressional district will decide whether or not to indeed award former and formerly disgraced Republican governor Mark Sanford with another shot at political office, or to act completely out of character and elect Democratic candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch to now-Sen. Tim Scott’s former seat. [...]

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Voter-ID attack.

Today’s the day that voters in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District march to the polling stations and decide whether to elect the disgraced former governor or the comedian’s sister to represent them in the House of Representatives.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, now visitors will be coming to town to watch them make this [...]

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Wherever the hell she came from...

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the chair of South Carolina’s Democrat party, Dick Harpootlian, raised some eyebrows on Friday when he urged supporters to help send GOP Governor Nikki Haley, “back to wherever the hell she came from.” Given that the governor is of Indian descent, this was widely reported on and seemed [...]

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"...it doesn't mean you take that money we've saved and leave the country for a personal purpose."

The South Carolina special election for Sen. Tim Scott’s vacated House seat is hovering dangerously over tossup territory after some — er — unfortunate turns for the Sanford campaign, and Monday night, he and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch duked it out in the only debate before the May 7th election. It went… well, pretty predictably, [...]

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Blergh.

According to Public Policy Polling, anyway. Granted, polling is especially tricky with a special election, because it’s difficult to really gauge what turnout is going to look like … but it’s kind of starting to look like, if any Republican could somehow possibly manage to lose this deeply crimson seat, Sanford could. PPP’s newest poll [...]

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Oh, snap.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is tactfully jumping ship and leaving Mark Sanford to his own devices in the special election for the Charleston-based House district in South Carolina, but the Democrat Congressional Campaign Committee is going for it, and straight to the jugular at that. Do you think they smell an opportunity, perhaps? Notice [...]

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Who could've seen this coming?

Last night, the Associated Press reported that Mark Sanford is due in court — a mere two days after the May 7th special election for now-Sen. Tim Scott’s vacated House seat — to explain precisely why Jenny Sanford found him at her home in February, in violation of their divorce agreement. (…Oof.) Now, of course, [...]

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Oh, criminy.

Remember how some Republicans have expressed concern about what past experience tells us is the distinct possibility of Mark Sanford’s campaign imploding on itself? Shaking my head. So much. Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford must appear in court two days after running for a vacant congressional seat to answer a complaint that he trespassed [...]

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Hmmm.

The boss emeritus was all over this last night. My heart aches for the Sanford boys. Painful pic: twitter.com/DianneG/status… — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) April 3, 2013 Really, really sad. MT @mattmackowiak Hang a lantern on your problem ==> campl.us/ovsz — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) April 3, 2013 Ditto. MT @clericalgal A choice between an adulterer & [...]

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"We're going to have a debate about ideas."

Mark Sanford won the runoff election and the Republican nomination to replace now-Senator Tim Scott in South Carolina’s 1st CD, with a special election in a little under five weeks against Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch next on the horizon. Sanford’s convincing win even in a low-turnout runoff would normally give the GOP some confidence [...]

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Terrific.

The polls close at 7 p.m. ET. If you missed Guy Benson’s Greenroom post yesterday, aptly titled, “So, this ‘Republican nominee Mark Sanford’ thing is probably happening, huh?,” read it now for a snapshot of the hubris that defines Team Sanford. I thought nothing could top it. Then I read this: Sanford said he would [...]

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5 keys, and flying blind.

Today, one of the most interesting political contests for the next few weeks will take place, and no one seems to know what the status of the race actually is.  Curtis Bostic squares off against former governor Mark Sanford in the runoff for the Republican nomination to represent South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, a race [...]

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“Trust is a crucial issue."

The two top Republican finishers in the primary to fill former Rep. Tim Scott’s House seat in a special election next week met for a debate, one that by all accounts was respectful and even friendly.  Even so, Curtis Bostic did not spare Mark Sanford a challenge about his credibility after his personal scandal marred [...]

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Electability.

Earlier this morning, I had an exclusive* interview with Curtis Bostic, one of two candidates in a run-off for the Republican nomination to replace now-Senator Tim Scott in South Carolina’s CD-01.  Bostic came in second in the initial round of primary voting last week, forcing top finisher Mark Sanford into a runoff.  Sanford at one [...]

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Fumble?

The standard disclaimer: Yes, PPP is left-leaning (they’re Kos’s pollster) so you may, if you’re so inclined, conclude that they’re trying to depress Republican turnout/boost Democratic turnout in the upcoming special election with these numbers. And now the obligatory footnote: They were pretty darned accurate in last year’s presidential polling. I’m skeptical that even a [...]

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"Are you guys ready to change things in Washington D.C.?"

Nothing says “let’s change Washington” like re-electing a disgraced former Congressman who vowed to serve only three terms before tossing his hat in the ring again this year. With all precincts reporting, unofficial results show Sanford received about 37 percent of the vote in the southern coastal district. It was unclear who he would face [...]

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"My mom and I shared a car, because we were po.' Not poor, just P-O. Po.'"

How’s the brand-new senator from South Carolina getting along? He made his first stand on the Senate floor in support of Rand Paul’s filibuster last week, and I challenge you to watch his CPAC speech from today and not A) laugh out loud, and B) feel at least a little surge of optimism about conservatism’s [...]

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Enemies at both gates

Lindsey Graham has been busy ticking off quite a few of the conservative faithful lately, whether it’s attacking Rand Paul or dining with the President. Thus, it’s no surprise if there are rumblings about a primary challenge for his seat next year. But it may come as a surprise to some observers if the challenge [...]

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Dude.

When I saw this detail in yesterday’s LAT piece, I had to read it three times before feeling confident enough to post it as a Headline item. I was sure I had misunderstood and that the “she” referred to was someone else. This guy may be a shameless careerist, but asking the spouse you wronged [...]

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Burn.

There’s been no shortage of Republicans vying to take up the mantle for now-Senator Tim Scott’s vacated seat in South Carolina’s first Congressional district; and somehow, the favorite is the state’s erstwhile governor Mark Sanford, who finished out his second term in a blaze of scandal and is now on the hunt for a political [...]

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Disparate treatment of states in the balance?

A little over a year ago, I wrote that Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice may have gambled away Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act by blocking a South Carolina voter-ID law on its basis.  Holder blocked a law that matches another in Indiana, which had already passed constitutional muster, but [...]

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Second look?

There’s shameless, there’s really shameless, and then there’s a guy touting his credentials on government accountability after he went AWOL as governor to visit his mistress on another continent and initially stuck taxpayers with the bill. Intentionally or not, the fallout from his affair comes off in the ad almost as a credential. We make [...]

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Comeback.

He’s been thinking about some sort of political comeback since mid-2011 at least, which is no surprise from a guy who first ran for Congress in his early 30s. In fairness, he’s always been extremely good on government spending, something Washington needs now more than ever. Anyone know of any other Congress-eligible Republicans in South [...]

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Delegitimization.

Jim Treacher’s right. Publishing this bilge is really just the Times’s way of calling him a cornball brother. Of the offense of Disagreeing With The Left While Black, Tim Scott stands guilty as charged: But this “first black” rhetoric tends to interpret African-American political successes — including that of President Obama — as part of [...]

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Respect.

Gov. Nikki Haley notes she’s a woman and a minority with a nonchalant smile that says “moving on from the obvious” before she dives into economic successes in her home state of South Carolina. When she delivers her speech to the Republican National Convention tonight, it won’t be for a specific demographic. “My audience is [...]

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