High Stakes for South Carolina Special

This video was shot and edited by Terence Burlij.

Voters in the coastal 1st Congressional district of South Carolina will decide on Tuesday whether the state’s former governor, Mark Sanford, deserves a second chance in politics.

Sanford, who once held the seat, is locked in a tied race with Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a Democrat best known as comedian Stephen Colbert’s sister.

To get a primer on the race, I chatted in our newsroom with Jon Ward of the Huffington Post. He spent several days in the Palmetto State and outlined each candidate’s final pitch to voters.

Busch is running on a pro-business platform, but has positions that might be out of the mainstream in this strong Republican district. That said, Sanford’s standing has declined with voters, thanks to his very public affair and his ex-wife’s allegations of trespassing.

“All the polls show it’s a dead heat,” Ward said.

Ward wrote over the weekend about the strange moment when Sanford put him on the phone with his son.

And yes, Busch is Colbert’s older sister.

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