Tick, Tick, Tick... Will The GOP Actually Lose A South Carolina House Seat In Less Than A Week?

I suspect that Rand Paul was less reluctant about following Papa Paul in endorsing habitually dishonest South Carolina philanderer Mark Sanford than I was in endorsing Elizabeth Colbert Busch. After all, he's more of a party hack than I am and, after all again, the Tea Party Establishment has rallied 'round Sanford after opposing him in the primary. Tuesday the Koch brothers' FreedomWorks, one of the groups Rand is dependent on, got on board.

GOP congressional candidate Mark Sanford was formally endorsed Tuesday by Sen. Rand Paul, a Tea Party favorite whose support could help in the final days of the special election for South Carolina's 1st District seat. The senator's father, former Texas congressman Ron Paul, threw his support behind Sanford last week.

"More than anything, Washington needs strong and consistent voices for fiscal responsibility and liberty," the younger Paul said in a statement. "Mark has proven during his time in office that watching out for taxpayers and holding the line on spending are his top priorities."

Sanford, a former South Carolina governor, faces Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in a May 7 election for his old House seat. Once the favorite in the race, Sanford has had to deal with renewed attention on his 2009 extramarital affair and the loss of support from the House GOP campaign committee.

The small-government, anti-tax Tea Party movement might be waning in some areas, but South Carolina has been one of its strongholds. It's also the site of the important "first in the South" presidential primary, and Paul has been trying to make inroads in some of these early states as he considers a 2016 White House bid.

Tonight, South Carolina's hugely unpopular governor, Nikki Haley, headlined a fundraiser for Sanford, her one and only event for her controversial ex-guru. (When she was running for governor, she scrubbed references to Sanford from her campaign website after his scandals became public.)

The event is Haley’s first with her one-time mentor in his race against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, a political newcomer and sister of TV comedian Stephen Colbert. The appearance by South Carolina’s first female governor comes as Sanford is trying to overcome a huge gap among women who favor Colbert Busch by 20 percentage points, according to a poll released last week.

The fundraiser is at the home of luxury car dealer Tommy Baker, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by the S.C. blog GOPwrite.com. The event costs from $250 a person to $2,600 for a couple to attend.

...Democrats said Monday that Sanford and Haley, who was cleared last year by two S.C. House investigations into allegations that she used her post as a Lexington state representative for her personal financial benefit, both are “ethically challenged.”

“Haley and Sanford are two peas in an ethically challenged pod, who have proved time and again that they can’t be trusted to act in the best interests of the people or our state,” the S.C. Democratic Party said in a statement Monday.