Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, the center of a lurid sex scandal, is trying to restart his career by going back to the Congressional seat in Charleston which he held before he became Governor.
Once having Presidential ambitions, which fell by the wayside once he was involved with an Argentine beauty, and disappeared for days without explanation, Sanford now faces the challenge of the candidacy of Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of Stephen Colbert, the comedian on Comedy Channel, who is one of the best political comedians in America, along with Jon Stewart of the same channel.
The race is very close, but if Sanford wins, his political career would be revived, and if he loses, he is done with politics, and would go back to his former real estate career.
Can a disgraced politician survive a sex scandal? Well, Senator David Vitter of Louisiana has done so, but that is an exception.
Of course, former President Bill Clinton did so, although not running for office again.
Former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner is considering running for Mayor of New York City, which will be another test of ability to come back from a sex scandal.
Realize that in almost all cases, a sex scandal destroys the career of a politician for good, so the Sanford and, possibly, Weiner cases will be very telling to see if the voters are willing to forgive, if not forget, their transgressions.
We shall see regarding Sanford tomorrow night, and Weiner making a decision to run in the next month before the deadline to file for the New York Mayoralty!