Politics & Government

Grip & Grin: Mark Sanford Doing What He Does Best

The former governor and House rep is most at ease on the campaign trail talking policy with voters

People who follow politics — consultants, media, politicians themselves — love data.

The importance of the statistics that make up that data grows with every election. When it comes to assessing political races, the most valuable statistic of all may be name recognition. 

Gripping and Grinning

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“There’s gonna be a lot of pictures of Mark Sanford on Facebook tomorrow.”

-overheard at Flowertown Festival in Summerville on Saturday.

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Walking through the Flowertown Festival in Summerville with former Gov. Mark Sanford, on a sun-splashed spring afternoon is seeing the power of name recognition brought to life.

After last Tuesday’s run-off win, Sanford is now the Republican nominee in the race to regain the Congressional seat he held from 1995-2001.

Sanford’s name recognition is reported to be in the 90 percent range, high even for a two-term former governor who left office just a few years ago. To be sure, Sanford is widely known for more than his legislative abilities.

Since re-entering politics, Sanford has been asked about the transgressions that made him internationally famous every day. When asked if he’s grown tired of the same questions day after day, Sanford compares his fall from grace to a scar that will never go way. But, he said, like an athlete recovering from an injury, he can’t let it stop him from him getting back in the game.

Judging from the dozens of people who stopped Sanford at the Flowertown Festival, they’re glad he’s back in the game as well.

Walking down Main Street amid thousands of fairgoers, Sanford extended his hand to introduce himself and dozens of times, before he could finish, the people being greeted were finding the camera on their phones and sidling for a snapshot with the tanned and smiling former governor.

There was the occasional awkward moment. A few of the smiles coming back at Sanford were through clenched teeth. And there was the plus-sized teen wearing a T-shirt that read “Don't Laugh It's Your Girlfriend's Shirt” who shouted, “Are you Mark Sanford?”

But they were the exception. Numerous people congratulated Sanford, but he reminded them that he hadn’t won yet and they still had to vote on May 7. One man thanked Sanford for rejecting stimulus money when he was governor.  When a woman stood between Sanford and her boyfriend for a photo Sanford said she was “a rose between a couple thorns” which caused her to blush.

Almost everyone called him ‘Mark,” rather than an honorific. They were from a cross-section of the electorate, not just the “angry white men” that have party leaders worried about its long-term future. And by a ratio of 2 to 1 there were more women than men who stopped to talk to Sanford.

Addressing the obvious question, one woman said, “No one knows what goes on in a marriage. Every relationship is different.”

Mandy Kimmons and her husband Charles spent a few minutes talking with Sanford. Mandy said, “I’m over his affair and all that happened, but I know not everyone is.”

Charles was more direct, “His private life is his private life.”

When informed of the reception Sanford received in Summerville at least one Lowcountry politico was not surprised.

“It’s OK for rank and file Republicans to support Sanford now. He made it through the primary, he made it through the run-off,” said a consultant who worked for one of Sanford’s rivals in the GOP primary. “He’s the nominee.” 

On the Run

The first weekend of Sanford’a general election campaign began with the 10k Cooper River Run on Saturday morning.

By noon, his knees still a little sore, he was talking with the dozen or so volunteers at his campaign office in a Charleston strip mall (a few doors down is an establishment called The Up in Smoke Shop).

Sanford is the rare policy wonk who is equally at ease talking with voters as he is talking monetary policy. There’s a reason he was frequently mentioned as a contender for national office before the scandal in June 2009 put those ambitions, well, up in smoke.

While Sanford was speaking to one volunteer, another asked a reporter what he knew about the first marriage of Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the Democrat Sanford must beat to return to office.

The reporter wondered how that was relevant to the race.

The volunteer said, “Everyone knows Mark’s baggage, they ought to know hers.”

The reporter responded that when Colbert Busch was married to her first husband she was not a public figure and that was approximately three decades ago.

The volunteer pressed, saying that a local radio host had raised the issue. The volunteer was disappointed when the reporter informed her that that didn’t make it any more relevant.

By itself, the scandal involving Sanford’s extramarital affair does not appear as if it will be enough to derail him. The numbers in SC1 are strongly in his favor; it’s Republican by a margin of 12-15 percentage points.

But Sanford’s election is not a foregone conclusion. For as disciplined as he may be, the campaign must be wary of surrogates being too tough on Colbert Busch—precisely like in the way of the volunteer at the campaign office in Charleston. Taking an occasional jab at Colbert Busch's more famous brother Stephen is something else.

Sanford’s campaign has signaled it's content to make the race about the issues and Sanford himself thrives in that environment. It’s how Sanford elevated himself above the crowded field in the primary.

The core of Sanford’s message is that there is no mystery as to how he’ll vote on an issue. When describing his thought process and his voting record, he explained that he starts with two basic questions: Is this fiscally conservative and is it constitutional?

From there, he said, he works toward an opinion. He noted that using those questions as guidelines keep him consistent and voters appreciate consistency.

It took Sanford a while to make this point.

He squeezed it in between six different voters asking if they could take a picture with him.

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