South Carolina's Sanford makes comeback to win House seat

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican former Governor Mark Sanford made a stunning political comeback on Tuesday, rebounding from a sex scandal to beat Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a personality-driven election for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that put a national spotlight on South Carolina.

Sanford regained the First Congressional District seat he held from 1995 to 2001 before serving two terms as governor, the second of which was marred when he tried to hide an affair by saying falsely that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

He earned 54 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Colbert Busch, a businesswoman and first-time candidate whose brother is television satirist Stephen Colbert.

"I've talked a lot about grace over the course of this campaign. I get it in a way that I never have before," Sanford told cheering supporters in Mount Pleasant.

"I just want to acknowledge a God not just of second chances, but third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth chances," he said.

The election, which garnered broad attention thanks to the colorful candidates, was held to fill the seat vacated by Republican Tim Scott when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor Nikki Haley in December.

Sanford, 52, had trailed Colbert Busch by 9 points two weeks ago in a poll taken soon after revelations that his ex-wife had accused him of trespassing at her home. Sanford said he went there to watch the football Super Bowl with one of their four sons.

Sanford was also the subject of attack ads that accused him of deserting the state in 2009 when the then-married governor tried to hide a six-day visit with his mistress in Argentina by saying he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

He paid more than $70,000 in fines for ethics violations that included using public money for personal travel to Argentina. He was subsequently divorced and is now engaged to the other woman, Maria Belen Chapur, who attended his victory party.

No Democrat has represented the district since the early 1980s. The district includes the city of Charleston and parts of four rural counties and stretches south along the coast to wealthy Hilton Head Island.

Supporters and analysts credited Colbert Busch, 58, with running a good race that remained close until the end.

"Wow, we gave it a heck of a fight, didn't we?" a smiling Colbert Busch told her supporters at a hotel in Charleston.

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington.; Writing by Colleen Jenkins.; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Christopher Wilson and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-ex-governor-mark-sanford-wins-u-010044337.html

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