Colbert Busch and Sanford are battling for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat. | AP Photos Colbert Busch attacks in slugfest

CHARLESTON, S.C. – So much for the frontrunner playing it safe.

Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch took the fight to embattled Republican Mark Sanford in a raucous debate here Monday night, at one point tagging the former governor as a hypocrite for preaching lower spending when he used taxpayer dollars to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress.


Sanford called Colbert Busch, a Clemson University administrator and the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, a tool of Nancy Pelosi and labor unions who’s a misfit for the conservative-leaning 1st District.

( QUIZ: How well do you know Mark Sanford?)

And so it went on one issue after another — from jobs and spending to Obamacare and gun control — in a 75-minute slugfest ahead of next week’s battle for a vacant South Carolina congressional seat.

It was their sole one-on-one encounter of the general election — and Colbert Busch, who is leading in polls, was so aggressive that Sanford at times looked like he didn’t know what hit him.

Sanford spoke repeatedly about his extensive efforts as governor and House member to cut wasteful spending. Colbert Busch then turned to Sanford and delivered this zinger:

“When we talk about fiscal spending and we talk about protecting the taxpayers, it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.”

( QUIZ: How well do you know Elizabeth Colbert Busch?)

That was a reference to Sanford’s use of state funds to fly to Argentina to visit his mistress and now fiancé, an affair that derailed his political career four years ago.

“She went there, Governor Sanford,” one of the debate’s moderators responded.

With much of the crowd hooting and hollering, Sanford seemed shaken.

“I couldn’t hear what she said… repeat it, I didn’t hear,” he said.

“Answer the question,” Colbert Busch interjected.

“What was the question?” Sanford said, appearing stunned.“Ok, but anyway, ah ah, on the sequester, I’ll go back to the sequester…”

( PHOTOS: Mark Sanford’s career)

The debate was perhaps Sanford’s last, best opportunity to make a dent in Colbert Busch’s lead. After allegations surfaced this month that he trespassed at his ex-wife’s house, the former governor finds himself as the underdog in a contest he was widely expected to win. A survey by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling released last week showed Colbert Busch opening up a 9-point lead over the former governor.

National Republicans have abandoned the former governor, leaving him to fend for himself as a team of deep-pocketed Democratic groups hammer him on South Carolina’s TV airwaves. Through the end of last week, three organizations – the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Majority PAC, and Vote Vets Action Fund, had combined to spend nearly $1 million against Sanford.

Sanford spent much of the debate on the attack, too. He laced into Colbert Busch for accepting contributions and endorsements from labor unions – which are unpopular in conservative South Carolina – and pointed out that in 2001 she donated $500 to one of his gubernatorial campaigns.

And he repeatedly tried to connect Colbert Busch to Pelosi pointing out that groups closely associated with the House minority leader had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars running TV ads on her behalf. The line of attack is one that Sanford has used on the campaign trail. Last week, he debated a cardboard cut-out of Pelosi.

“This notion of a million dollars coming in from a whole host of groups across this country that are Democrtatic and left leaning in nature to support my opponent absolutely matters in this race,” he said. “What is says is, ‘Whose voice will you carry to Washington, D.C.? … Will it be Nancy Pelosi’s voice? will it be labor unions’ voice?”

Colbert Busch swung back, calling herself a moderate-minded pragmatist who is independent from Democratic leaders. She called President Barack Obama’s health care bill “extremely problematic” and said she would oppose many forms of gun control.

“I want to be very clear, Mark. No one tells me what do, except for the people of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District,” she said.

Throughout the debate Colbert Busch referred to Sanford as “Mark” — not “governor” or “congressman.”

The two also clashed on government spending, with Colbert Busch hitting Sanford for refusing federal stimulus money as governor that would benefit the port and voting against projects for the district as a congressman in the 1990s.

“I want to remind everyone again, Mark, you voted against the bridge, you voted against dredging, you voted against job training, and all of those things are needed for job creation,” Colbert Busch said.

Sanford called the charge a “gross mischaracterization.”

“The idea of, let’s borrow more money from the Chinese so we can send more money to South Carolina or other states is not something that made sense to me at that time,” he said. “I was against earmarks before being against earmarks was cool.”

The debate laid bare their ideological differences on a range of issues. Sanford said he opposed the gun control bill that failed in the Senate recently calling for expanded background checks; Colbert said she backed it despite her belief in 2nd Amendment rights. Sanford said he would vote against the comprehensive immigtation reform plan being pushed by the “Gang of Eight”; Colbert Busch favors it.

Sanford argued that the issue of gay marriage should be left to the states; Colbert Busch said she believes it’s a matter of basic equality and civil rights. And Sanford said he would work to strip funding from Obamacare; Colbert Busch criticized parts of the law without denouncing it as a whole.

Complicating matters for Sanford was the audience — which took full advantage of the lack of rules against their participation and was decidedly pro-Colbert Busch. Many of those gathered in the debate hall at The Citadel, a prominent military academy here, cheered her on and jeered Sanford. At several points Tuesday evening, Sanford was forced to smile and wait for the crowd to quiet down.

With his campaign running short on cash and trailing in the polls, Sanford’s campaign has complained bitterly about Colbert Busch’s refusal to appear in more debates.

Speaking to a group of reporters following the debate, the former governor said he was frustrated there wouldn’t be any more encounters between the two.

“It was a debate of ideas that we’ve been long waiting for,” he said. “It was the beginning of the process. The time isn’t as fleshed out as we would like, but that’s the nature of any debate.”