Five things to watch during the Sanford/Bostic returns

Assuming Sanford wins, national Republicans — many of whom are warily eyeing a general matchup between the hobbled former governor and Colbert Busch — are looking to see how well he performs. A narrow win will indicate that GOP voters are unenthusiastic about him. A large margin will show that he’s in better shape.

Sanford finished far ahead of his rivals in the March 19 primary. But, viewed another way, the former governor couldn’t manage to get a majority against a collection of mostly unknown opponents.

National Republicans say they’re concerned enough about his prospects that they would spend money to help him, lest they hand a safe GOP seat to Democrats. Just how worried they should be will depend in part on how Sanford fares Tuesday.