Picking up another House seat?

When South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint resigned last December to take charge of the Heritage Foundation, Gov. Nicki Haley appointed a member of the S.C. House to replace him, leaving an open House seat to be filled by a special election to be held this spring.

Stephen Colbert's sister, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, won the Democratic nomination.  Disgraced former Governor Mark Sanford won the Republican nomination, using a campaign that focused on redemption and having a second chance.

Now the Sanford campaign has been hit -- devastatingly it seems -- by the revelation that the Sanford drama continues.   His ex-wife has filed court complaints against him for repeatedly trespassing on her home, against court orders.   A hearing date has been set by the judge in the case.

She counters claims of trying to undo him politically with this charge by pointing out that she filed the complaint back before the primary;  it's coming out now only because the judge has just set the hearing date.   She could have leaked the information earlier.

Now it's reported that the Republican National Congressional Committee is pulling the plug and will make no further contributions to his campaign.   The devastating thing is that this completely undermines his credibility as a "reformed sinner," because it looks like he continues to be irresponsible and unreliable -- the original charge against him when he was governor and caused the original scandal.   It certainly won't help him win back the women voters.

So, even though Ms. Colbert Busch might have won a close election anyway -- at this point it seems highly unlikely that Sanford can survive this.    So we might see a Democrat now representing a very conservative district in South Carolina.   What sweet irony.

Ralph