This 2006 photo shows Mark Sanford after winning his second term as South Carolina governer. He is joined by his family, from the left, sons Bolton; Landon; his then wife, Jenny; and son Marshal. Picture: AP Source: AP
FORMER South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who left public life two years ago after mysteriously disappearing to visit his then-mistress in Argentina, is poised to re-enter the political arena.
Acknowledging reports that he is seriously weighing a congressional bid for the seat he once held, Mr Sanford wrote in an email to The Associated Press: "To answer your question, yes the accounts are accurate." Mr Sanford promised "further conversation on all this" later.
The two-term governor was a rising Republican political star before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009. Reporters were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he later tearfully acknowledged he was visiting Maria Belen Chapur, which he told everyone at news conference announcing his affair. He later called her his soul mate in an interview and the two were engaged earlier this year.
The opening for Mr Sanford comes after congressman Tim Scott was appointed to fill the remaining two years of Senator Jim DeMint's seat. Senator DeMint announced earlier this month he was resigning.
News that Mr Sanford, 52, may be interested in the seat comes days after his ex-wife, Jenny, appeared to be dipping her toe into the state's political waters.
She was reportedly on Governor Nikki Haley's short list of candidates to fill the seat that went to Mr Scott. Jenny Sanford later said she would think about a run for Mr Scott's seat representing the coastal 1st Congressional District, the seat her ex-husband is now considering.
"I'd be crazy not to look at the race a little bit," she said on Tuesday, before reports about Mark Sanford surfaced.
State Republicans said Scott plans to submit his letter of resignation from the House on January 2, triggering a process of candidate filing and primaries leading up to a special election in May.
Mr Scott, in a taped interview airing on CBS' Face the Nation, said he thinks there may be 25 or 30 candidates running for the seat.
"This is going to be a very active primary," he told Bob Schieffer when asked about Mr Sanford's run.
"The citizens of the 1st District will have an opportunity to have their voice heard through the vote and then two weeks later there will obviously be a runoff because with that many candidates we'll have a lot to say grace over."
Mark Sanford knows the 1st District well. Elected to the seat in 1994 - Jenny Sanford managed his first campaign and was a close adviser for most of his career - he served three terms before voters elected him governor in 2002.
The former governor would bring name recognition and money to the race - two things especially important due to the short campaign season and wide-open field.
Whether voters are ready to welcome Mr Sanford back to politics is another issue.
"It's absolutely absurd. He just has so much baggage. He was such an embarrassment to the state, we don't need that," said Gloria Day, a retired attorney in Charleston.
He avoided impeachment but was censured by the Legislature. He also had to pay more than $US70,000 ($67,000) in ethics fines - still the largest in state history - after AP investigations raised questions about his use of state, private and commercial aircraft.
Others said Mr Sanford's fiscal record is what's important, and Mr Sanford is known as a libertarian-leaning ideologue who railed against spending and bucked Republican Party leaders before anyone even coined the tea party movement.
"Mark Sanford is a reliable fiscal conservative so I, like many conservatives, would be delighted to see him in the race," said Joanne Jones, vice chairman of the Charleston Tea Party, though she noted she'll wait to see the entire field before throwing her support behind a candidate.
Mr Scott will be sworn in January 3 to replace Senator DeMint, who announced his resignation earlier this month to lead The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Mr Scott, who would have to seek election in 2014, will become the state's first black US senator and the first black Republican US senator from the South since Reconstruction.
Candidates for Mr Scott's seat must file by the end of January. Primaries will be held in March, with the general election in May.
State Republican Chairman Chad Connelly said as of Friday, 14 Republicans had expressed interest.
"Governor Sanford getting in would certainly alter the dynamics. That list would go down significantly," he said.
Sanford has $US1.2 million left in his state campaign coffers.
John Dietz of Daniel Island said the affair wouldn't affect his vote.
"He said he found his soul mate, and at one point in my life that's exactly how I felt. I empathised," said Mr Dietz, a retiree who characterises himself as a moderate.
Mr Dietz said he was disappointed that Sanford could not work with his fellow Republicans in the Legislature.
"I did not necessarily agree with a lot of things he did politically," he said. "I'm very much neutral at this point."
Retired Presbyterian minister Dick Giffen of Mount Pleasant said he wouldn't support Mr Sanford, but added that it was unrelated to the affair.
"He wasn't able to bring people together and get action done," Mr Giffen said. "He didn't produce anything. ... I really wasn't impressed with him."
