Mount Pleasant, S.C. –– Mark Sanford thought about it for a little bit, and he decided to vote for himself. At least, that’s what he told me outside Brown’s Court Bakery in Charleston a few hours ago. Yesterday a group of Elizabeth Colbert Busch supporters met him outside a pool store and asked him to vote for their candidate. He laughed and told them he’d think about it (more on that in my piece for the homepage today). I asked him today, a bit before he voted, if he’d made up his mind.
“That’s an excellent question,” he said. “I’d need a little bit more contemplation time. I probably didn’t give it as much study as I probably should have last night. Um, I’m still probably a little bit locked in on this other guy, and I gotta cast my vote in about half an hour, or 27 minutes to be exact, and so, um, unless something changes dramatically between here and there, I think I’m gonna go with the Sanford guy.”
It might be the last chance he gets to vote for himself. After casting his ballot, the former governor told a scrum of reporters that he won’t run again if he loses tonight. He’s had his shot at redemption, he said, and he won’t take more than one.