CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, bidding for political redemption in a congressional race after a high-profile divorce that seemingly ended his aspirations, sought to challenge the notion that he has a problem among women voters by spending part of a visit to a small shopping street looking for, as he put it, “a woman who hates me.”

The question of Sanford's ability to win women voters, first raised by his 2009 high-profile affair and divorce, re-emerged after a recent legal dispute with his ex-wife. He further complicated matters during a debate last week, saying he had not heard his opponent when she asked a question about the affair and his use of public funds surrounding the episode.

On Saturday, after answering several questions about whether he thought a trespassing charge at his ex-wife’s home might compromise his standing with female voters, Sanford led reporters on a foray in downtown Summerville, S.C., stopping women to ask them their opinion of him, specifically referring to the question posed by a reporter for NBC News.

“No group’s vote is a monolith,” Sanford said, pointing out that he had recently received an endorsement for Tuesday’s special election from a group of Republican women who took an ad out in a local newspaper.  Sanford is running against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch to fill the South Carolina congressional seat vacated by now-Sen. Tim Scott.

Sanford also noted that during his visit to the hot dog restaurant Perfectly Frank’s, where earlier that afternoon his campaign announced the endorsement of the Tea Party Express, patrons had not brought the issue up.

When the reporter noted that he was speaking to a crowd that included some people who had gone to the restaurant specifically for the campaign event, Sanford dismissed that context as “the case of any political venue." 

“If you’re a political figure, some people, because they hear you’re going to be at some place, they’re going to show up,” he said.

Sanford then walked across the street to begin his meet-and-greet, flanked by two campaign staffers and three reporters, telling the reporter who asked the questions about his status with women that he rejected the “premise” that women wouldn’t vote for him because of his personal life.

He then indicated he wanted to seek out women who “hated” him.

“Let’s go to this woman – does she look biased?” he asked as he crossed the street, the NBC reporter walking next to him. 

As a car whizzed by, he told the reporter, “Watch out, I don’t want you to get run over. Actually I kind of do, but that’s a different story.”

After Sanford caught up with the woman he had pointed out, she told him she was a big supporter and that she would be making phone calls for him on Tuesday.

A staffer, mimicking Sanford’s tongue-in-cheek approach, suggested that the woman had been planted.

A few shops down, he stopped in a women’s consignment store to chat with two shoppers who were visiting South Carolina from Arkansas, but who had seen some of his campaign ads and signs, which they said were “beautiful.”

“You look like you’re totally capable and we wish you luck,” one of the women told him.

Laughing, Sanford pointed to the two cameras in front of him, saying, “you hear that?”

Later, Sanford visited a women’s clothing store where the shopkeeper said she knew one of Sanford’s staffers, and that the staffer “knows I’m in your corner.”

“Oh good,” the former governor said. “[But] that defeats what I’m after.”

Pointing to the NBC reporter, he continued, “We were trying to find her a woman who hates me so she can use it in her TV show. She’s with NBC National.”

As Sanford wrapped up his hourlong canvas, he came across a couple, each of whom expressed their support for him.

After indicating, as he had previously, that the NBC reporter was looking to talk to women who didn’t support him because of his marital history, the woman, Patty Hulbard, responded, “I'm not your biggest fan. What you did I don't appreciate, but that should not influence my vote necessarily.”

 “You line up ideology with my thinking, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt,” she continued. 

“I appreciate that. Thank you,” Sanford said.

Turning to NBC’s camera, he pointed and said, “That’s pretty close to what you’re looking for. We’re getting somewhere, all right.” 

This story was originally published on Sun May 5, 2013 11:57 AM EDT

The highly anticipated debate between Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District special election didn’t disappoint. Sanford accused his opponent of being a Trojan horse for House Democrats, while she accused the former governor of deserting the state for his personal satisfaction.

Both candidates were incredibly feisty at times, and the vitriol between the two in their only meeting before their May 7 faceoff to succeed now-Sen. Tim Scott, R., was palpable.

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Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford answers a question during the 1st Congressional District debate on April 29 in Charleston, S.C.

Sanford repeatedly hammered Colbert Busch — a Clemson University administrator and the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert — for the financial support she’s getting from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Majority PAC and donations funneled to her through ActBlue, and for accepting campaign contributions from labor groups.

Sanford’s fallback, time and again, during Monday’s debate was to tie Colbert Busch to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. When his Democratic opponent only agreed to one face-to-face encounter, Sanford took to debating a cardboard cutout of the former House Speaker on the streets last week.

“It’s not believable to me that someone gives you a million dollars and not expect something in return,” said Sanford, arguing his Democratic opponent would be a reliable vote for Pelosi.

It’s a wise strategy, given that the Lowcountry district is heavily Republican and voted 18 points in favor of GOP nominee Mitt Romney last fall.

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Democratic candidate Elizabeth Colbert Busch, left, looks at former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford as she answers a question during the 1st Congressional District debate on April 29 in Charleston, S.C.

But Sanford’s past transgressions and his recent missteps have put the outcome in jeopardy. He navigated a GOP primary despite his 2009 highly public admission of an affair with an Argentinian woman and the following spectacle which seemingly ended his political career until this attempt at a comeback.

Some reported surveys have shown Colbert Busch with a lead over Sanford but operatives on both sides believe the race remains close.

After a recent accusation of trespassing at his ex-wife’s home, national Republicans pulled their financial support from Sanford’s candidacy.

During a question on the sequester and how to slash federal spending Monday, Colbert Busch saw her chance to pounce on Sanford’s affair, and leapt at it.

“When we’re looking at fiscal responsibility,” said Colbert Busch, “it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.”

Sanford said he didn’t hear Colbert Busch’s rebuttal and turned the question back to the sequester.

At one point in the debate, ideological stars seemed to be crossed, as Colbert Busch compared herself to former Vice President Dick Cheney, while Sanford equated his quest for redemption to that of former President Bill Clinton

On the issue of gay marriage, Colbert Busch acknowledged she was for “full equality,” calling the issue “a matter of civil rights and equal protection under the law.” And quoting the former vice president, whose daughter is openly gay, argued “Freedom is freedom for everyone.”

When he was asked about voting in favor of President Clinton's impeachment when he was asked, Sanford gave one of his most direct answers of the evening about his affair and subsequent disappearance from the state, asking  “Do you think that President Clinton should be condemned for the rest of his life based on a mistake he made in his life?”

Colbert Busch argued repeatedly that she would take pledges from no one each time Sanford said she was too cozy with congressional Democrats. Talking of her struggles as a single mother and how she rose in the business world, at the end of the debate she even promised she would donate 10 percent of her salary back to taxpayers if elected.

"I want to be very clear," Colbert Busch said forcefully at one point. "No one tells me what to do, except the people of South Carolina's 1st Congressional District."

Sanford also criticized his opponent for accepting donations from labor groups, including ones who opposed Boeing's move to Charleston because the state is a right-to-work state.

Colbert Busch said the National Labor Relations Board was wrong in opposing the Boeing move.

Sanford championed the fiscally conservative voting record he amassed during his time in Congress -- "I was in essence against earmarks before being against earmarks was cool," said Sanford -- but Colbert Busch said sometimes that came at the expense of local voters, and pointed often to his vote against funding the dredging the Port of Charleston.

One of Sanford’s earliest swipes at his opponent was over a $500 donation she had given to his first campaign for governor, deadpanning that his vote on the Port “must not have bothered her that much.”

Colbert Busch rebutted that Sanford “didn’t tell the truth...you turned around and did the opposite in supporting the Port.”

Sanford made a states' rights argument in his opposition to a federal definition of gay marriage. 

And he criticized Colbert Busch for a series of tweets that had been deleted from her campaign twitter account, including one where she said she was pro-choice. The Democrat didn’t back off her position, even in the GOP district though, arguing that such a choice was “an incredibly personal decision between a woman, her doctor, her family and her God.

Sanford said he also would have voted against the gun background check bill, proposed by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), while Colbert Busch said she supported some increased background checks.

“The Second Amendment isn’t there to shoot a duck or a deer,” said Sanford. “It’s the teeth behind every other right Americans enjoy. You need to be very careful treading upon rights that were guaranteed by our Founding Fathers.”

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:28 PM EDT

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who is running for his old congressional seat, responded to a complaint that he trespassed at the home of his ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, by saying that he simply was watching the Super Bowl with his son.

"It's an unfortunate reality that divorced couples sometimes have disagreements that spill over into family court. I did indeed watch the second half of the Super Bowl at the beach house with our 14 year old son, because as a father I didn't think he should watch it alone," Sanford said. "Given she was out of town I tried to reach her beforehand to tell her of the situation that had arisen, and met her at the back steps under the light of my cell phone when she returned and told her what had happened.

Sanford continued, "There is always another side to every story, and while I am particularly curious how records that were sealed to avoid the boys dealing with embarrassment are now somehow exposed less than three weeks before this election, I agree with Jenny that the media is no place to debate what is ultimately a family court matter, and out of respect for Jenny and the boys, I'm not going to have any further comment at this time."

According to the AP, Sanford is required to appear at a court hearing to answer the complaint on May 9, two days after the special election for South Carolina’s first congressional seat, featuring him and Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert Busch.

Sanford is also set to debate Colbert Busch on April 29 -- campaign spokesman Joel Sawyer said there are no plans to change his debate schedule.

*** UPDATE *** NBC News has obtained the complaint, filed with a Charleston County circuit court, charging that Sanford “entered into a pattern of entering onto [Jenny Sanford's] property” and that she had told him “on a number of occasions that this behavior is in violation” of their divorce court order. 

Here is a link to the complaint.

Democrats are relishing in a surprising opportunity to possibly pick up a House seat in a solidly Republican district in South Carolina, where Mark Sanford is hoping to stage a political comeback next month.

Sanford, the embattled former governor who left office in 2011 under a cloud of scandal following an extramarital affair that publicly wrecked his marriage, officially won the Republican nomination for the May 7 special election to fill the vacancy in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district. He beat rival Republican Curtis Bostic in a runoff election with about 57 percent of the vote.

Though Sanford represented this reliably GOP district for three terms in the 1990s, he faces a tougher-than-expected challenge from Democratic nominee Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, a Clemson University administrator and the sister of Comedy Central personality Stephen Colbert.

For Sanford, a onetime conservative rock star who had once flirted with the possibility of seeking the Republican presidential nomination, next month’s special election is a shot at redemption, both personal and political. His 2009 admission of an affair with an Argentinian woman, María Belén Chapur, and bizarre subsequent explanations of his absence to pursue that affair, nearly ruined his career and left a lasting negative impression with voters that could help Colbert-Busch score an unlikely victory.

An internal poll released by the Colbert-Busch campaign earlier this week showed the Democrat leading Sanford by three points – within the poll’s margin of error, but still noteworthy for its reflection of a competitive race in this district that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won last fall by 18 points.

Sanford, speaking Wednesday on “Morning Joe,” argued that Colbert-Busch’s ability to skate to the Democratic nomination as he endured a competitive Republican primary, helped explain those numbers.

“I think that when people really begin to digest those ideas – some real strong contrasts in terms of where she would be versus where I would be – that's going to substantially change a poll that, right now, simply defines name ID as people know it, not issue ID,” he said. “And ultimately, I think debates and campaigns are ultimately decided on issues.”

Colbert-Busch benefits, too, from her brother’s celebrity and heightened media interest in the campaign. It’s for that reason that Republicans in Washington said Wednesday that they are watching the race closely, and refuse to take for granted a seat that Democrats haven’t held since 1981.

Both Republicans and Democrats generally admit that the race might not be as close if not for Sanford, and the baggage associated with his affair. But GOP sources also contend that Colbert-Busch has managed to escape most scrutiny, and that the district’s Republican-leaning voters will end up with Sanford once his Democratic opponent’s views are fully litigated over the course of the next month.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which is tasked with electing GOP candidates to the House, for instance on Wednesday chided Colbert-Busch for campaigning while continuing to remain on-staff at Clemson.

Bruce Smith / AP

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford leaves the voting booth after voting at his precinct in Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday, April 2, 2013.

“Why should South Carolina taxpayers have to foot the bill for Elizabeth Colbert Busch to campaign for Congress? We already knew Colbert Busch supported Obama and Pelosi’s big-spending policies, but now she’s taken her disregard for the taxpayers to a new low,” said NRCC spokeswoman Katie Prill.

(Clemson says the NRCC's characterization is incorrect, and that Colbert-Busch is not on the state payroll at the moment. Her annual leave, to which she is entitled, ended on March 26. "Elizabeth Colbert Busch is not on the state payroll in South Carolina. She took a leave of absence from her job at Clemson University the day she filed for office," said John Gouch, the school's assistant director of media relations.)

The ultimate test of both parties’ commitment might come in the form of a check cut by the NRCC or its Democratic counterpart, the DCCC. Both sides maintain that they have not yet decided whether to spend money on television ads in this coastal South Carolina district, which could help swing the race toward either candidate.

Meanwhile, Democrats are eager to have Sanford available as a public face of the GOP over the next month, if not more. South Carolina Democrats on Wednesday eagerly reminded reporters of the letter written by state Republican lawmakers (including now-U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R) to Sanford in 2009, which asked for his resignation (Sanford declined). The letter called Sanford’s actions during his affair an example of “poor decision making and questionable leadership.”

Sanford’s bid for a comeback also comes as Republicans nationally seek to overhaul their image, and broaden the GOP’s appeal among Hispanics, young voters and women – three groups among whom the party suffered during last fall’s election.

“The last thing they [Republicans] need is Mark Sanford to be their public face,” a Democratic campaign source said in anticipation of the bruising – and increasingly nationalized – campaign set to play out over the next few weeks.

This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 1:34 PM EDT

A House race pitting a liberal comedian’s sister against a strict, conservative opponent might seem like a strange place for a GOP donor to turn blue.

But at least 16 donors to Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the Democratic nominee for Congress in South Carolina’s 1^st congressional district, have also given recently to a Republican – in some cases, one of the 16 Republican candidates vying for their party’s nomination to challenge Colbert Busch in the May 7 general election.

But when asked why they decided to switch – or in some cases, straddle – sides this time, these donors spoke not of a sudden political conversion, but rather the desire to give a little help to their friend Lulu, as those who know Colbert Busch call her. 

Bruce Smith / AP

Elizabeth Colbert Bush, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, shares a laugh with reporters after voting in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Tuesday, March 19, 2013.

The mantra “all politics is local” rings true for John LaVerne, the owner of Charleston’s Bulldog Tours, which offers ghost walks and culinary tours of the historic city. Usually a Republican voter, LaVerne gave his friend Colbert-Busch $250 after donating the same amount to Mitt Romney’s campaign in May 2012.

LaVerne said the Democratic nominee “blew me away” when they met three years ago, and he has been telling his Republican friends that “she’s the smartest candidate out there.”

Another connection: Colbert Busch’s daughter works for LaVerne as Bulldog’s operations manager.

“[Colbert Bush] raised her kids by herself, all three of them, and they’re all three phenomenal people,” he said. “That says a lot.”

Despite the attention to her candidacy aided by her brother’s celebrity, Colbert Busch is considered an underdog against either of her would-be Republican opponents, former Gov. Mark Sanford or Curtis Bostic. A runoff GOP primary will decide between Sanford and Bostic, but the district is solidly Republican.

Still, Colbert Busch can point to some of these crossover voters as evidence of the kind of bipartisan appeal she would need to win this special election to fill the former House seat of now-Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.

Thomas Doyle, the owner of Palmetto Carriage Works, feels the same way as LaVerne about Colbert Busch – she’s his mother’s best friend and was his confirmation mother at the Cathedral at St. John the Baptist, which is why, out of “my loyalty to Lulu,” he donated $500 to her campaign.

Politically, though, Doyle said they couldn’t be further apart, which is why he voted last Tuesday for Republican Teddy Turner, son of CNN mogul Ted, who came in fourth with 8 percent in the primary.

Doyle said politicians don’t affect him much, so if it turns out his donation helps her win, “more power to her.”

Even Doyle’s vote for Turner was shaped by personal relationships: his wife works at Charleston Collegiate School, where Turner is an economics teacher. “So I really didn’t have much choice there,” he said, laughing.

That’s just the way local races in South Carolina work, Charleston lawyer Mark Tanenbaum said.

“A lot of people know that when they have a friendship with candidates, you contribute when you’re asked to,” he said. “We all see each other, know each other, and feel an obligation to a certain extent so long as in the long run it’s not going to defeat our ideals.”

Tanenbaum, a Democrat, donated to both Colbert Busch, whom he supports, and one of the Republicans who sought to oppose her, state Rep. Chip Limehouse, who came in seventh. 

“I’ve known Chip Limehouse for quite some time. He’s a friend of mine; he asked me if I would give him some money just for the primary. He knew that if he got into the general election that I was not able to support him,” Tanenbaum said. 

Charles Way, president of real estate firm The Beach Company, gave $1,000 to Limehouse and $500 to Colbert Busch less than a month later. “They’re both good friends of mine,” he said, adding that his actual vote would remain “between me and the polling place.” 

The party-flipping goes both ways: one Charleston businessman, a lifelong Democrat, gave $1,000 to Tim Scott’s congressional campaign in 2010 after Scott sat him down personally, telling him he would be an “independent thinker” in the House of Representatives.

Scott, now a Senate appointee, turned out to be a “tremendous disappointment,” the businessman said. So by 2013 he was ready to make a contribution to Colbert Busch, with whom he was already friendly.

“I had known Lulu and thought very highly of her but had not thought of her in a political context before,” he said.

Even if Colbert Busch makes the most out of her donations, from Republican friends and others, she’s still running in a district that Romney won by 10 percent in 2012 – a reality that Robert New, a Romney donor who also gave to Colbert Busch, acknowledged.

“There are certainly some people on the waterfront who are unhappy [with Sanford],” said New, the owner of a Charleston waterfront business who became friends with Colbert Busch when she worked for a shipping company. New said many port businesspeople were turned off by Sanford’s anti-earmark stance that he took to Washington during his first congressional tenure in the 1990’s.

“But,” he added, “I still think she’s an outside shot.”

Former Gov. Mark Sanford is up with his first TV ad in his bid for South Carolina's 1st congressional district, appealing to voters and a "God of second chances."

"I've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. But in their wake we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances and be the better for it," Sanford says in the ad.

It's all part of a campaign to rehabilitate his political career after it seemed to end in scandal. When he was governor, Sanford disappeared for days, with staff first saying he was hiking the Appalachian Trail before Sanford himself acknowledged he had in fact gone to Argentina to visit his mistress.

Sanford was married at the time -- and he used taxpayer money to pay for another trip to South America when he visited his lover. He eventually reimbursed the state for the costs.

Sanford is now engaged to the Argentine woman, Maria Belen Chapur. 

Sanford is one of 16 Republicans running in the primary to replace now-Sen. Tim Scott. His ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, considered a bid for the seat before deciding not to run.

The district, in South Carolina's Lowcountry, is strongly Republican, and the winner of the GOP primary is likely to end up in Congress.

Still, the race is drawing attention from both sides of the aisle: Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, is running for the seat as a Democrat.