Salon.com > Bruce Smith

Colbert Busch goes there in debate with Sanford

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:44:00 +0000

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch planned to hit the campaign trail a day after a spirited debate in their race for a vacant congressional seat along the South Carolina coast.

"I rocked it," Colbert Busch said following Monday's 75-minute debate before an audience of about 500 at The Citadel, which was telecast on C-SPAN. Sanford, a former two-term governor trying to revive a political career damaged by an extramarital affair, said he would let the pundits decide who won.

With Election Day just a week away, both have separate appearances Tuesday, then appear before a Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce group on the city's waterfront before attending a forum sponsored by the Goose Creek NAACP. During both appearances, the candidates will address attendees but won't debate.

They did debate Monday, before a lively audience where supporters frequently broke into shouts or applause.

Early on, Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, reminded Sanford that he once used taxpayer funds to "leave the country for a personal purpose" - referring to the extramarital affair with an Argentine woman he had while governor. In general, Colbert Busch has refused to bring up Sanford's personal past during the campaign.

Ex-wife of Mark Sanford claims he trespassed

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:33:00 +0000

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford must appear in court two days after running for a vacant congressional seat to answer a complaint that he trespassed at his ex-wife's home, according to court documents acquired by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The complaint says Jenny Sanford confronted Sanford leaving her Sullivans Island home on Feb. 3 by a rear door, using his cell phone for a flashlight. Her attorney filed the complaint the next day and Jenny Sanford confirmed Tuesday the documents are authentic.

The couple's 2010 divorce settlement says neither may enter the other's home without permission. Mark Sanford lives about a 20-minute drive away in downtown Charleston.

Republican Mark Sanford is trying to revive his political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair that ended the couple's marriage. He faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch on May 7 as he tries to regain the 1st District congressional seat he held for three terms in the 1990s.

Spokesman Joel Sawyer said the Sanford campaign had no immediate comment on the court documents.

It’s on: Sanford to face Colbert Busch for South Carolina House seat

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:40:00 +0000

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — The race for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat has turned into the big-name contest that political junkies were hoping for.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican trying to make a comeback after his political career was derailed by his admission of an extramarital affair, faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, in a May 7 special election.

Sanford defeated former Charleston County Councilman Curtis Bostic in the GOP primary runoff Tuesday, clearing another hurdle in his quest for political redemption. He finished first last month in a 16-candidate field in the primary in the state's 1st Congressional District, which runs northeast along the coast from Hilton Head Island through Charleston and to the Georgetown County line.

Colbert Busch — who once worked in Washington as an intern for then-U.S. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C. — has had a lifelong dream of running for public office. The businesswoman has said jobs is a top priority for her campaign. Colbert Busch has worked in the shipping industry for years and is now on a leave of absence from her position as the director of business development for Clemson University's Wind Turbine Drive Testing Facility.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch wins S.C. primary

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:28:00 +0000

Mark Sanford says he believes in "a God of second chances," and now the former South Carolina governor has taken the first step toward reviving a political career that was derailed by an extramarital affair.

Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert, always dreamed of a career in politics — and now she has a chance to realize that dream.

As Sanford advanced Tuesday night to an April 2 GOP runoff for an open congressional seat in a southern coastal district, Colbert Busch easily won the Democratic primary to earn a spot on the May 7 general election ballot.

The race has drawn national attention because of Sanford's well-known fall from grace and Colbert Busch's relationship to Stephen Colbert, who parodies a conservative political commentator as host of TV's "The Colbert Report."

Colbert Busch swamped perennial candidate Ben Frasier on Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination for the seat vacated by Tim Scott, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate to replace fellow Republican Jim DeMint, now head of The Heritage Foundation.

Details emerge about man at center of Alabama hostage standoff

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:17:00 +0000

MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — As an Alabama standoff and hostage drama marked a sixth day Sunday, more details emerged about the suspect at the center, with neighbors and officials painting a picture of an isolated man estranged from his family.

Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 — a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War known as Jimmy to neighbors — gunned down a school bus driver and abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was to be buried Sunday.

Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.

The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities continue to have an open line of communication with Dykes and that they planned to deliver to the bunker additional comfort items such as food, toys and medicine. Officials also said Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible.

Dykes grew up in the Dothan area. Mel Adams, a Midland City Council member who owns the lot where reporters are gathered, said he has known Dykes since they were ages 3 and 4.

Jenny Sanford memoir moved up

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:15:00 +0000

South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford's memoir about dealing with her husband's infidelity will be published next month.

The 240-page "Staying True" goes on sale Feb. 5, according to the Web site for Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House Inc.

The book was to have been published in May and neither Sanford nor the publisher immediately returned calls about the change in release date.

Jenny Sanford filed for divorce from Gov. Mark Sanford last month and a final hearing on the petition is scheduled for late February.

The governor, once a rising star in the Republican Party and a possible 2012 presidential contender, disappeared for five days last summer and returned to publicly confess an affair with an Argentine woman. His staff told reporters he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he was actually in Argentina.

The publisher's Web site says the memoir will reveal Jenny Sanford's private ordeal over her husband's public betrayal. The book, which has a portrait of the first lady sitting by the beach on its cover, will tell how she learned just a day ahead of the public that her husband had not ended his affair with the woman he later called his soul mate.