S. Carolina’s Mark Sanford is trying to find “a woman who hates me”

GlobalPost

Mark Sanford doesn’t have much more time to make his case to South Carolina’s women that he deserves a second political chance.

The former Governor left office after a political fall from grace in 2009 after he was caught using public funds to visit his mistress in Argentina and lying to the public, and presumably his wife, about it.

The mistress - Maria Belen Chapur — is now Sanford’s fiancé.

With less than 48 hours to go until the polls open for a special election to fill the South Carolina congressional seat vacated by now-Sen. Tim Scott, Sanford is taking his case to the streets.

While traveling with an NBC reporter, Sanford decided to do a little tongue-in-cheek unofficial poll of women, trying to find one "who hates me".

"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," Sanford told passers-by.

From NBC:

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.

Sanford and Colbert-Busch are running neck and neck in the most recent polls.

Both have the support of 46 percent of the district according to a new poll from PMI for the website RedRacingHorses.com.

Sanford may be putting his personal struggles behind him but he also enjoys the benefit of a heavily partisan district - Mitt Romney carried it by 18 points in the 2012 election.

Colbert-Busch has been running a strong campaign with lots of outside cash but it may not be enough to overcome the district’s Republican ties.

"If Sanford were to pull it out, it would speak more to the heavy partisan undertow of the district than to any larger philosophical question about comebacks," Jim Hodges, the former Democratic governor who Sanford upended in 2002 told the Washington Post.

The special election is being held on Tuesday.

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