Sanford's Poll Numbers Bounce Back Up
The New York Times reports:
Recently, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina watched “The Blind Side, ” the Oscar-winning movie about a white woman from Memphis who mentors a homeless black teenager. The film so “touched my heart, ” the governor said, that he wrote a letter to the woman who inspired the character, praising her “acceptance and unconditional love.”
It is easy to see why those themes resonated. Mr. Sanford, who confessed last year to having an affair with an Argentine woman, has grappled since the scandal to save his political career and earn the public’s forgiveness.
And there are indications that he is succeeding — at least with South Carolinians. As Mr. Sanford, 50, a two-term Republican, prepares to leave office in January, he is enjoying a degree of political success that seemed unimaginable in the precarious days after his teary appearance on national television in the summer of 2009.
His poll numbers have rebounded, showing him more popular in the state than President Obama or Senator Lindsey Graham, a moderate Republican. He strung together what experts consider his most important legislative term. He announced plans for a huge Boeing plant near Charleston, the largest industrial project in state history. And his ally and personal friend Nikki Haley won this month’s governor’s race.
Now the frugal governor, who describes himself as “Tea Party before the Tea Party was cool,” is even considering a future run for office.
“I’d say nothing is impossible, given the last chapter of my life,” he said in a rare interview recently aboard the state airplane, although he said he was more likely to return to the private sector. “All I know is that I want to run through the finish line as governor.”
But voters who have forgiven have not necessarily forgotten. Nationally, Mr. Sanford is still known primarily as the guy who called his mistress his “soul mate” and turned “hiking the Appalachian Trail” into a euphemism.
“Forgiveness is one thing, re-election is another,” said Merle Black, a professor of Southern politics at Emory University. “He gets credit for hanging in there, but his political career has come to an end.”
But that end is one few political observers envisioned. After the scandal, Mr. Sanford, who had been considered a likely presidential candidate in 2012, resigned as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He was nearly impeached by the Legislature, which instead censured him for bringing “ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame” on the state.
Even Mr. Sanford concedes he was “very, very close” to resigning. “I wanted to curl up,” he said. “I wanted to go down to my farm in Beaufort County and never see another TV for the rest of my life.”
That would have been a terrible mistake, a surrender to his weaker nature, he said. Voters seem to agree. A survey last month by Winthrop University in Rock Hill showed that 70 percent of the state believes Mr. Sanford deserves “a passing grade” for his governorship. Many former critics have now reversed themselves.
“He has turned out to be a very good, very effective governor,” said Glenn McCall, the chairman of the York County Republican Party, who had previously called for Mr. Sanford’s resignation. “Conservatives in our state really appreciate him for standing strong on his fiscal principles.”
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