Elizabeth colbert busch vs. mark sanford

Political newcomer Elizabeth Colbert Busch went on the offensive against former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford Monday night in a make-or-break debate — the only one the candidates are scheduled to have before they square off in a special congressional election next week. Colbert Busch — a Democrat, Clemson University administrator and sister of comedian Stephen Colbert — slammed her Republican rival's political record and even brought up the extramarital affair that nearly ended his political career, saying it was hypocritical of him to tout his fiscal responsibility when he used taxpayer money to fly to Argentina to see his mistress. Then this happened:

Sanford got in plenty of jabs of his own, painting Colbert Busch as a puppet of House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, and someone who's too liberal for their conservative-leaning district. But did either candidate do enough damage to gain an edge?

Several observers said that since Colbert Busch had a narrow polling lead heading into the debate, all she had to do was keep from getting steamrolled by a more experienced opponent — and she did it. "So much for the frontrunner playing it safe," says Alex Isenstadt at Politico. Colbert Busch "was so aggressive that Sanford at times looked like he didn't know what hit him." Colbert Busch didn't back down an inch, says Steve Benen at MSNBC. Even though the district leans conservative, she stood up for gay marriage with former vice president Dick Cheney's line, "Freedom means freedom for everyone," and countered Sanford's claim that she's a Pelosi puppet by saying nobody controls her but her district's voters. For a first-time candidate in her first debate, Benen says, Colbert Busch really held her own against a polished rival.

Reuters/Associated Press

This one couldn't be going better if it was scripted for a Comedy Central show.

There's a pretty good chance that a philandering former governor will face off against the sister of a television comedian for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. During a primary for South Carolina's first congressional district special election Tuesday, Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch won the Democratic nod. Meanwhile, Mark Sanford won the most votes in the GOP field, sending him to a runoff for the Republican nomination.

This is the seat, you may recall, that opened up when Governor Nikki Haley appointed Tim Scott to a Senate seat vacated by Jim DeMint. The field was full of names in the "Is that the same ....?" category -- not just Sanford and Colbert Busch, sister of Stephen (though she pronounces the 't,' as in COAL-burt), but also Sanford's ex-wife Jenny and Teddy Turner, the conservative son of the CNN mogul. A profile in the Charleston Post and Courier several years ago aptly pointed out how her brother didn't define her:

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch is Stephen Colbert's sister, and that's probably the least interesting thing about her.

Her father and two of her brothers were killed in a plane crash when she was 19. She was married to a man who ended up on "America's Most Wanted." And in 2001, while at a business conference in New York City, she was sitting in a building directly across the street from the World Trade Center when two jetliners slammed into its twin towers, forever changing the landscape of America.

And then there's Sanford, of Appalachian Trail and Argentine lover fame, who apparently by unwritten rule must be described by reporters as "disgraced former governor Mark Sanford."

It looks like Elizabeth Colbert Busch isn't just a novelty act after all. In the latest survey from the left-leaning Public PolicyPolling, Colbert Busch, sister to Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert, has jumped to a 9-point lead over opponent Mark Sanford in their race to represent South Carolina's 1st Congressional District in the House.

That puts her in prime position to win a May 7 special election. How did she jump so far ahead when the two were neck-and-neck only a few weeks ago?

Mark Sanford, the disgraced former governor of the state, weirded voters out by allegedly trespassing on his ex-wife's home. Jenny Sanford — the ex-wife Mark Sanford left for his Argentine mistress — accused him of violating their divorce agreement by sneaking around the back door of her home without her permission.

Sanford protested that he was just trying to watch the Super Bowl with his son while he thought she was out of town. But the National Republican Congressional Committee ran out of patience, pulled its funding, and now Sanford finds himself trailing in the polls.

When asked whether the trespassing incident gave them doubts about Sanford's fitness for office, 51 percent of respondents said yes. As Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, put it: "The only question is whether an extremely unpopular Sanford can find some way to make voters like her even less than him in the next two weeks."

Here are the favorability ratings for the all the players involved:

Stephen Colbert‘s sister lost her bid for a seat in Congress on Tuesday night.

Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch was defeated by disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. With the win, the Republican takes back his old seat in the state’s 1st District.

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Sanford became embroiled in a scandal upon admitting to an extramarital affair in 2009 with Maria Belen Chapur, to whom he is now engaged. He had claimed he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail when in reality he was in Argentina visiting his mistress.

Sanford became a late-night punch line after the truth came out. Quipped Late Show host David Letterman at the time: “Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared … and it turned out he was in South America. And then it turned out he was down there because he was sleeping with a woman from Argentina. Once again, foreigners taking jobs that Americans won’t do.”

Colbert, meanwhile, had broken character — he plays a conservative in his role as host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report — to help with his sister’s campaign.

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“I’m willing to, you know, break the jewel of my own creation to try to do something for her,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in March. “I’m not worried about what it would do to me or my show to try to help her as myself — not as my character, to help her as myself. And you know, if people think that’s not the right thing for me to do, I don’t care. It’s my sister, and I’m willing to help her.”