wife. a reintroduction wouldn t hurt. we can learn aa lot about grace, a god of second chances. sanford is asking voters for a second chance to win his old congressional seat. after what you put the voters of the state through, why should s they give you a second chance? i think that s one, an individually determined thing, what a vote is about. what i would say on the larger notion of forgiveness. some people forgave me the next day, some people will never forgive me. i m in the race because i m worried. reporter: he still has to win his primary against a field of 15 yes, 15 gop rivals. some fixtures in state politics, another, teddy turner, son of founder of cnn ted turner. hit with attacks. it s absolutely amazing how dirty the game is, how expensive the game is. it doesn t make sense. if that s not enough to grab voters attention. thank you for the vote. the winner on the republican
mark sanford faces more than a dozen opponents in today s republican primary for an open seat in congress including teddy turner shall the son of cnn founder ted turner. there is a big name on democratic ballots as well. elizabeth colbert, bush, the sister of comedian steven colbert. our national political correspondent jim acosta is in charleston with more. reporter: wolf, with 16 candidates vying to become the gop nominee in this race to fill an open congressional seat it is no wonder that the dirt is flying down here in south carolina and not all of the mud is aimed at the man expected to win former south carolina governor mark sanford. good morning. mark sanford. reporter: in this congressional race along the south carolina coast known as low country the candidates have not exactly taken the high road. this flyer mailed out to voters takes aim at former governor mark sanford over the extra marital affair he tried to hide by saying he was hiking the
this automated phone message to voters featuring an impersonator of president obama. you know what makes me mad? the thought of larry brooms in congress. reporter: the rough-and-tumble race may remind voters of will farrell duketing out in the movie the campaign. now that i m running for congress we ll be under a lot of scrutiny. anybody have anything they want to share with us? rncht the voters who have grown accustomed to nasty south carolina politics seem to have no problem taking their pick, whether it s turner you think he has a shot? absolutely. why not? there are only 16 running. reporter: or sanford. i m sorry he screwed up but i believe in him and i think he is our answer. done. reporter: the woman expected to win the democratic nod elizabeth colbert bush sister of comedian steven colbert has another way of describing low country campaigning. i think this race is so important and so pivotal. i think there s just a lot of
carolina house seat are trying to out random each other? we have ex-governor mark sanford of the infamous rendevous with his argentina mistress. then elizabeth colbert bush the sister of political pundit steven colbert and don t forget teddy turner the son of mogul ted turner the guy who started this network. the winner of next month s general election will fill a vacancy left by tim scott who was appointed to the senate in january. america s symbol will be open for america s birthday. hurricane sandy forced the statue of liberty to close but we ve just gotten word she will reopen by the 4th of july. she was not damaged by the storm but power was knocked out on liberty island along with backup generators and the dock for ferrying visitors was wiped out. somewhere mike bloomberg is saying, i told you so. a study released within the hour might make you want to put down your big gulp surely.
south carolina. good to see you. reporter: good to see you too. tomorrow is the big special election to fill the seat vacated by now senator tim scott. there are two democrats running two run in the may 7th election. but there are 16 republicans running for the gop spot for the may 7th election. one of them is mark sanford, the former governor of south carolina. the person who once held that seat. and also in that race is teddy turner, the son of the billionaire founder of the other cable channel, cable news channel out there. and again, if neither one, or no one in that gop primary gets 50%, there is a special. then there is a run-off and that takes place on april 2nd. and on the democratic side, you ve got stephen colbert. his hastert.