The past week for Mark Sanford...it hasn't been good.
He's down nine points in the reliably Republican South Carolina 1st District to his Democratic competitor, Elizabeth Colbert Busch. He's had his cell phone deluged with calls from Democrats after inexplicably putting his phone number in a full-page ad in the Charleston Post and Courier. And for some reason, Sanford thought that performing a strange "debate" with a cardboard version of Nancy Pelosi was a good idea. All in all, the Sanford (R) campaign has been vastly more ridiculous than it's been sublime, since he won the GOP nomination in a primary run-off.
But according to The Washington Post, [DRUM ROLL] there's a game-changer:
Mark Sanford’s special election campaign announced Thursday that it has earned the endorsement of Sanford’s former House colleague, Ron Paul.
“Mark Sanford has always been a strong ally of the Liberty Movement. Help him get to Congress. Donate today!” Paul wrote in a fundraising appeal for Sanford.
We thus welcome former Texas congressman and presidential aspirant Paul to his post-political career as influential candidate-endorser. Which very well could be no joke, folks -- if there's one thing Paulites have proven able to do with regularity, it's raise decent sums of campaign cash in a short amount of time. The test is whether or not Paul will be able to marshal his forces in support of someone who does not share his surname. (The Post's Aaron Blake reports that Paul has picked a side in the upcoming GOP primary to fill Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss' seat -- current Georgia Rep. Paul Broun.)
Sanford can use the help. Paul's endorsement comes a week after the National Republican Congressional Committee announced that it was washing its hands of the former South Carolina governor. In a statement, the NRCC said: “Mark Sanford has proven he knows what it takes to win elections. At this time, the NRCC will not be engaged in this special election.” That's a pretty polite way of saying, "You're on your own."
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