|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's affair turns political
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Race
|
| Contributor | Monsieur |
| Last Edited | Monsieur Jun 28, 2009 06:57pm |
| Logged |
0
|
| Category | General |
| Author | Jonathan Martin |
| News Date | Monday, June 29, 2009 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In the should-he-stay-or-should-he-go drama now playing out in South Carolina over Gov. Mark Sanford, there is one group of people that is fervently, if quietly, hoping that he will stay.
Their motivation is not loyalty to their adulterous governor. It is dismay over what would happen if Sanford bows to pressure and steps down: Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer would step up.
That would give Bauer – like Sanford, a Republican – an advantage in what was already shaping up as a brutally competitive GOP primary to replace the term-limited incumbent in 2010.
In effect, Sanford’s travails have caused that intra-party contest to start early. Associates of some Bauer rivals have begun a covert campaign of trash talking and not-for-attribution opposition research to make the case that the 40-year-old lieutenant governor would be a flawed candidate.
One South Carolina Republican is circulating an attack ad that was produced but never aired against Bauer in his hard-fought 2006 primary victory for the lieutenant governor nomination.
The intra-party machinations highlight a part of the Sanford soap opera that goes past the governor’s lust for forbidden flesh. The story has been marked from the start by political passions, rivalries and the taste for revenge among a large cast of tribal South Carolina pols. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
