Sanford Affair a Blow to GOP Values Brand

US News & World Report ^ | 6/24/09 | Dan Gilgoff,

[steve-b]

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's admission today that he had an extramarital affair strikes another blow to the GOP's brand as the party of family values, particularly in a region of the country—the Deep South—that has become ever more critical to Republicans, who've lost ground recently in the Northeast and the West.

Outside South Carolina, "Sanford is most well known in states like North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which are growing more competitive for Democrats," says Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster who worked for Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee during the 2008 campaign season. "This is devastating for the Republican Party in the very region where it has to make gains."

Fast on the heels of an admitted affair by Nevada Sen. John Ensign—another emblem of the GOP's values brand—Sanford's announcement also makes it harder for the national Republican Party to maintain credibility with the values voters who've been most loyal to it.

"As far as the Republicans go, this raises the issue of how marriage is treated by political leaders," says Wendy Wright, the president of the conservative group Concerned Women for America.

Belcher, the Democratic pollster, says the recent string of Republican sex scandals is redolent of the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, when former House Leader Tom DeLay resigned after being indicted in a campaign finance investigation and Florida Rep. Mark Foley was caught sending lewd text messages to young male congressional pages. Both were Republicans, and Belcher, who was then pollster for DNC Chair Howard Dean, watched the Republican advantage on values issues shrink from more than 20 percentage points to around 5 points over the course of the '06 election cycle.

The Democrats won 31 seats in the House, regaining control of the chamber.

Belcher says he has not conducted national polls since last year's election. "But at this point, when it comes to values, the Republican brand has deteriorated more, and their hopes of making gains in the coming midterms has to be dramatically undermined," he says. "My guess is that we've now gone from a tossup on values with the Republicans to [Democrats] having at least a 4- or 5-point advantage."

Sanford, who was considered a potential 2012 White House contender, has long been a darling of "pro-family" religious conservatives. In the 2008 election, Christian right activists who were unenthusiastic about the Republican presidential field tried unsuccessfully to draft him as a presidential candidate.

[FFranco]

But the sooner he disappears off the public stage, the better.

---

I don’t think Sanford’s career is necessarily over. His wife is willing to forgive him, I think the voters might too. After all, Vitter is still in office, Larry Craig didn’t resign his seat, and Newt Gingrich still has some reputation among Republicans.

Sanford might be a contender again some day. Probably not in 2012, but perhaps in 2016 if the Repub candidate doesn’t win next election.

[SoCalPol]

Sanford was a L Ron Paul clone.

Most of his supporters on FR and bloggers are third party loons.

The 1998 resolution to make regine change in Iraq the official policy of the U.S. , both L Ron Paul and Sanford
voted against it.

Sanford said “I don’t believe in preemptive war”

so typical of the libertarians and the Left.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

There are getting to be a lot more of us ‘third party loons’ than you loyal Republicrats, so be nice.

[itsahoot]

I’ve read Liberty and Tyranny. I don’t agree with Levin on that at all.

I am Shocked

[perfect_rovian_storm]

I bet lots of things sneak up on you. :)

[itsahoot]

I bet lots of things sneak up on you. :)

In your dreams.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

Unfortunately, it’s more like nightmares. You see, while you’re voting for big government Republicrats who yammer on about God and morals while voting to stop cow farts from ‘destroying the planet’, thus proving that they actually believe no such thing, the big government you are voting for is destroying all of our freedoms.

[itsahoot]

You see, while you’re voting for big government Republicrats

I hardly think I vote FOR republicrats, the Last president I voted For was Reagan, the rest of the elections I voted against the Commie.

I would have done a write in for Duncan Hunter until, Palin came to the ticket, so I voted for her and the old Commie, counting on him being less harm than Obama. I could have been wrong on that one, but he is pretty old, and I figured he would be a one termer at best.