With national Republicans abandoning his campaign amid trespassing allegations from his ex-wife, former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) took out a full-page newspaper ad on Sunday declaring that he’s “outgunned” and “outmanned” in the special election playing out in the state’s First Congressional District.
In the ad, published in Sunday’s edition of the Post & Courier of Charleston, S.C., Sanford began by reflecting on the “rough week” he experienced, which saw the National Republican Congressional Committee announce that it will no longer contribute to his race, his ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, file a lawsuit alleging that the former governor violated their divorce agreement by visiting her home in February and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee release a blistering ad that mocked his 2009 mistress scandal.
Kristin Sosanie, a spokeswoman for the South Carolina Democratic Party, said Monday that Sanford was flippant to focus only on his own trevails the same week as the Boston Marathon bombings and the industrial plant explosion in Texas.
“Only in Mark Sanford’s narcissistic world would this rough week be all about him and not the people of Boston or Texas,” Sosanie said in a statement, according to USA Today. “As we’ve seen again and again, the people of South Carolina just can’t trust him to stand up for our values.”
Later in the ad, Sanford defended himself against charges from his ex-wife, claiming that he did not want his 14-year-old son to watch the Super Bowl by himself on Feb. 3 at her home and taking on Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and his opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, for trying to “buy this race.”
He closed the ad by recalling the story of a South Carolina man named William Travis, who fought in the Battle of the Alamo.
“I will leave you with one last thought. In March of 1863, there was similarly little time. A South Carolinian by the name of William Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword and simply asked those who would stay and fight, to cross it,” Sanford wrote. “His efforts, and that of those who died with him there at the Alamo, ultimately inspired Texans to come to the aid of their brethren and defeat Santa Anna’s army though they were outnumbered at the onset by six to one. I’m outnumbered right now, but will fight to the end toward freedom and financial sanity in Washington to sustaining it. I’d ask you to cross the line and fight with me.”
As the blog South Carolina Soapbox pointed out, the Battle of the Alamo actually took place in 1836. Sanford’s full ad can be viewed below and here, via South Carolina Soapbox.
