Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch slapped Mark Sanford over his affair when he was governor in last night’s tense, and only, debate in the special election in South Carolina’s 1st District–and now the House Majority PAC is doing the same thing. 
 
 Obtained exclusively by The Daily Rundown, the Democratic super PAC’s latest television ad against Sanford features a female GOP voter from the district slamming the former governor for his disappearance from the state while in office and the disclosure that he was having an affair with an Argentinian woman. 
 
 “I used to be for Mark Sanford–but not anymore,” says Jennifer Stark of Mount Pleasant, S.C. “He skipped town to be with his mistress on Father’s Day. Sanford even asked his wife for permission to have the affair, and wasted our taxpayer dollars on himself.” 
 
 “I’m a Republican. But Mark Sanford just doesn’t share our values,” says Stark. 
 
 While other Democratic ads have heavily alluded to Sanford’s affair with the woman he’s now engaged to, House Majority PAC’s is the most direct yet. And it plays exactly to the demographic that Democrats know they must win over to be victorious–female Republican voters. 
 
 The ad shows footage from Sanford’s teary press conference when he returned from Argentina, after he had told his staff he would be hiking the Appalachian Trail. 
 
 The more recent bad headlines for Sanford flash across the screen, too–earlier this month, an AP report revealed his now ex-wife, Jenny, had accused him of trespassing, 
 
 National Republicans were blindsided by the accusations and they pulled funding from the race, dealing a serious blow to Sanford’s comeback bid. 
 
 Left to defend himself, Sanford’s gone on the attack against Colbert Busch for Democrats groups that have come to her side–including the House Majority PAC. Combined, Democratic groups have spent over $1 million on the race. 
 
 Sanford has criticized HMP specifically, and after they put his personal cell phone number in a fundraising pitch–he had printed it himself in a full-page apology ad in the local paper–he released out of state cell phone numbers that had called his phone. 
 
 The GOP nominee continued pointing fingers at Democratic outside groups backing Colbert Busch during their Monday evening debate. From NBC Politics: 
 
 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. 
 
 But Colbert Busch fought back, and wasn’t afraid to bring up the governor’s past personal failings. 
 
 During a question on the sequester and how to slash federal spending Monday, Colbert Busch saw her chance to pounce. “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. 
 
 The special election takes place on May 7 for the chance to succeed now-Sen. Tim Scott. While an automated survey from the Democratic-aligned Public Policy Polling last week showed Colbert Busch up nine points, both sides believe the race is much closer than that and likely within the margin of error. ||||| CHARLESTON, S.C. – So much for the frontrunner playing it safe. 
 
 Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch took the fight to embattled Republican Mark Sanford in a raucous debate here Monday night, at one point tagging the former governor as a hypocrite for preaching lower spending when he used taxpayer dollars to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress. 
 
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 reset Colbert Busch hits Sanford affair 
 
 Sanford called Colbert Busch, a Clemson University administrator and the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, a tool of Nancy Pelosi and labor unions who’s a misfit for the conservative-leaning 1st District. 
 
 (QUIZ: How well do you know Mark Sanford?) 
 
 And so it went on one issue after another — from jobs and spending to Obamacare and gun control — in a 75-minute slugfest ahead of next week’s battle for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat. 
 
 It was their sole one-on-one encounter of the general election — and Colbert Busch, who is leading in polls, was so aggressive that Sanford at times looked like he didn’t know what hit him. 
 
 Sanford spoke repeatedly about his extensive efforts as governor and House member to cut wasteful spending. Colbert Busch then turned to Sanford and delivered this zinger: 
 
 “When we talk about fiscal spending and we talk about protecting the taxpayers, it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.” 
 
 (QUIZ: How well do you know Elizabeth Colbert Busch?) 
 
 That was a reference to Sanford’s use of state funds to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress and now fiancé, an affair that derailed his political career four years ago. 
 
 “She went there, Governor Sanford,” one of the debate’s moderators responded. 
 
 With much of the crowd hooting and hollering, Sanford seemed shaken. 
 
 “I couldn’t hear what she said… repeat it, I didn’t hear,” he said. 
 
 “Answer the question,” Colbert Busch interjected. 
 
 “What was the question?” Sanford said, appearing stunned.“Ok, but anyway, ah ah, on the sequester, I’ll go back to the sequester…” 
 
 (PHOTOS: Mark Sanford’s career) 
 
 The debate was perhaps Sanford’s last, best opportunity to make a dent in Colbert Busch’s lead. After allegations surfaced this month that he trespassed at his ex-wife’s house, the former governor finds himself as the underdog in a contest he was widely expected to win. A survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released last week showed Colbert Busch opening up a 9-point lead over the former governor. 
 
 National Republicans have abandoned the former governor, leaving him to fend for himself as a team of deep-pocketed Democratic groups hammer him on South Carolina’s TV airwaves. Through the end of last week, three organizations – the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Majority PAC, and Vote Vets Action Fund, had combined to spend nearly $1 million against Sanford. 
 
 Sanford spent much of the debate on the attack, too. He laced into Colbert Busch for accepting contributions and endorsements from labor unions – which are unpopular in conservative South Carolina – and pointed out that in 2001 she donated $500 to one of his gubernatorial campaigns. 
 
 And he repeatedly tried to connect Colbert Busch to Pelosi pointing out that groups closely associated with the House minority leader had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars running TV ads on her behalf. The line of attack is one that Sanford has used on the campaign trail. Last week, he debated a cardboard cut-out of Pelosi. ||||| South Carolinians may not love former Gov. Mark Sanford. They may still have a bad taste in their mouths after his governorship. They may even wonder whether they can entirely trust him. 
 
 But in the end, they decided he was as good as they were going to get. 
 
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 reset Mark Sanford victory speech POLITICO Junkies: Sanford takeaways 
 
 Sanford completed his return from the political graveyard Tuesday night, easily dispatching Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a deep red district that Mitt Romney won by nearly 20 percentage points. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Mark Sanford’s career) 
 
 With many voters expressing misgivings about the former governor, Sanford found a path to victory by turning the race into a referendum on the national Democratic Party instead of himself. He put his political gifts to work, wooing skeptical voters in a relentless game of retail politics. And he had the advantage of facing a political newcomer whose inexperience at times showed. 
 
 In the end, the nail-biter that late polls hinted at never materialized: Sanford crushed Colbert Busch, 54 percent to 45 percent. 
 
 A turning point in the race came two weeks ago, when Sanford held a mock debate with a cardboard cutout of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, implying that the California Democrat — persona non grata in conservative South Carolina — was a stand-in for his Democratic opponent. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Sanford defeats Colbert Busch) 
 
 The former governor endured days of derision from the press for the move — Mark Sanford, once regarded as a viable potential presidential candidate, was debating a piece of cardboard. 
 
 But behind the scenes, Sanford’s aides grinned: Every time a reporter put “Pelosi” and “Colbert Busch” in the same sentence, the Republican was winning. And some Democratic aides began to worry, too. 
 
 After months of relentless focus on his personal life — his upcoming marriage to his Argentine fiancée, the charges that he trespassed at his ex-wife’s house and more — the theatrics helped Sanford turn the race into a debate about issues. Voters had to make a decision: Was Colbert Busch beholden to the Democratic Party? And if so, was that worse than Sanford’s transgressions? 
 
 (QUIZ: Do you know Mark Sanford?) 
 
 Over the ensuing days, Sanford – in TV ads, on the campaign trail, and in a debate — drove home his message. He challenged Colbert Busch to say how she would differentiate herself from Pelosi. And he hammered her for accepting campaign help from Washington-based groups like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and House Majority PAC, which combined to spend nearly $1 million on the TV airwaves against him. 
 
 As he greeted a lunchtime crowd in Charleston last week, Sanford told one supporter that his fight was against Washington Democrats who were “pouring acid on my head every day.” 
 
 There was something else playing in Sanford’s favor — his political instincts. For all his flaws, his fiercest critics concede, few are better at retail politics. 
 
 In 1994, Sanford — then a 34-year-old real estate investor and political newcomer — launched his first campaign for Congress, traveling up and down the South Carolina coastline in an exhausting push to introduce himself to voters. 
 
 This time, Sanford was, in a sense, running from scratch once again. Without the trappings of the governorship, he hop-scotched the Lowcountry in a black van driven by an aide. After spending a year in obscurity, he was reintroducing himself to voters — soothing the concerns of voters who still felt squeamish about what he had done.
– Mark Sanford appears to be bent on digging himself ever deeper into the hole he's in: The latest headline-getting incident involving South Carolina's ex-governor has Sanford publishing the phone numbers of people who called him ... after he invited people to call him in a full-page newspaper ad. Here's how it went down, per Slate: Sanford's unbelievably wordy ad (which started, "It's been a rough week" and addressed Democratic attacks against him and that whole trespassing incident) invited people to call his campaign office or his cell—and his cell phone number was included—if they had any "further questions." The House Majority PAC, which had already been supporting Elizabeth Colbert Busch in her race against Sanford, then reprinted that number in a fundraising email suggesting people "take him up on his offer" and call Sanford to "ask why he spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on luxury travel!" Sanford then took screenshots of that fundraising email and his incoming call history and published it all. His campaign rep explains why he published the numbers: "Look, if Pelosi and Co. are going to bat this hard for Colbert Busch, there ain't going to be anything 'independent' about her. We're putting it out there to illustrate just how interested Pelosi's allies are in getting Colbert Busch elected." Sanford is clearly not happy with Nancy Pelosi, and he showed it in another odd way Wednesday: by publicly debating a cardboard cutout of the House Minority Leader. He did so, he explained, because Colbert Busch won't debate him publicly, so he decided to debate Cardboard Pelosi instead. (Click to watch the video.) In news that Slate is quick to point out is unrelated, the Cook Political Report recently decided Sanford is not so likely to win against Colbert Busch, deeming the race "lean Dem." (And indeed, he is trailing his opponent by a 9-point margin.) But, hey, at least Ron Paul is endorsing Sanford, Roll Call reports.