Tag Archives: Mark Sanford

Below The Belt

Stephen Colbert

Recently Stephen Colbert’s sister was unable to defeat the Appalachian Governor in his attempt to re-enter politics.  Predictably, the brother was disappointed in the good people of South Carolina.  But in my humble opinion he went too far.

I just spent the weekend at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds where I worked at the furnace burning Hickory wood to use as fuel to smoke our BBQ pig cooker.  The pig went on at 11:30 at night and was served at 11:00 am the next morning.

‘Que is serious business.

There is no need to mock it:

Comedian Stephen Colbert re-energized the debate over barbecue in the Carolinas on Wednesday night, saying he would learn to love the North Carolina version – and then pretending to gag when he tried it.

Colbert, of the Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” is from Charleston, S.C. His sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, lost to former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford in a race for Congress Tuesday. Sanford won despite the fact that he had an affair as governor and lied about his whereabouts.

On Wednesday, Colbert expressed outrage with his home state on his show.

“My sister lost! How could this happen?” he said. “I was so sure Lulu won because CNN called it for Sanford.”

As for South Carolina, he said, “I feel so betrayed by South Carolina. If they are going to turn their backs on my family, I am going to turn my back on them. [Laughter] No, I am.

“From now on, and I never thought I would ever say this, I am from North Carolina.

“I’m a Tar Heel now. Whatever the [bleep] that means.

“But most shockingly, I will no longer enjoy South Carolina’s tangy, savory and deeply delicious barbecue made with our unique mustard-based sauce.

“Now, instead, I now officially love North Carolina’s sauceless, vinegar-based meat product that they call barbecue.”

At that point, Colbert whipped out a big plate of barbecue and took a bite. Then he made a face, pretended to gag and acted like he was having a hard time swallowing.

“I tell you what,” he said while shoveling the rest of the barbecue in the trash, “I might just save the rest of that for later.”

He then guzzled a bottle of mustard sauce and declared, “I can’t do it. I love South Carolina too much.”

There is no reason to bash the North Carolina BBQ.

Mark Sanford

Mark Sanford

I’m dramatically less interested in Mark Sanford than I was 4 years ago.  Remember, back then Sanford was an up and coming republican star.  Two term governor of a southern red state.  In my mind, he was on the short list of the top contenders for the 2012 ballot.

The came Argentina and the Appalachian Trail.

Sanford rightly was banished from American politic and finished his term in disgrace.  Many, me included, thought that his career was over.

Well, not yet:

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has won his House primary runoff, setting up a high-profile special election against businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D), the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert.

Sanford led attorney Curtis Bostic (R) by 57 to 43 percent as of 8:40 p.m., with 96 percent of precincts reporting. The Associated Press has called the race.

The win is the latest step in Sanford’s rehabilitation after an extramarital affair derailed his political career in 2009 — but his biggest test lies ahead in the Republican-leaning district.

Since he has mounted his comeback, Sanford is 2 for 2.  He “won” the first runoff but failed to obtain the 50% he needed to avoid the second runoff.  And he won this one going away.

The first PPP polling shows the race a toss-up:

PPP’s first look at the special election in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District finds a toss up race. Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch leads Republican Mark Sanford 47-45 and ties Curtis Bostic at 43.

This is a Republican leaning district and Barack Obama’s approval rating in it is only 41% with 57% of voters disapproving of him. But Democrats are far more unified than the Republicans are. Busch is winning 87-89% of the Democratic vote while Sanford (76%) and Bostic (72%) are both earning less than 80% of the GOP vote. Busch is also up by 16-18 points with independent voters.

Focusing in on the potential race between Busch and Sanford it’s surprisingly close for one simple reason- voters like Busch and they continue to strongly dislike Sanford. 45% of voters see Busch favorably to only 31% with a negative opinion. On the other hand Sanford is still stuck with a 34% favorability rating and 58% of voters seeing him in a negative light.

I’m betting that right now, Sanford is experiencing his lowest polling numbers of the election.  He’s a veteran of 5 winning elections and is unlikely to make an unforced error.  Further, every single skeleton has likely been exposed.  I’m guessing that he wins relatively easily.

What this means in the larger picture however, is kinda ho-hum.  The seat was republican and, as I mentioned, will probably stay republican.  Both senators are republican and are unlikely to turn blue anytime soon.  He’ll probably never hold the governor’s mansion again, so I don’t see much upside for him outside of his house seat.

Then again……