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. 
 
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 reset Colbert Busch hits Sanford affair 
 
 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. ||||| The special election on May 7 in the First Congressional District is the first time in several decades that a Democrat stands a strong chance of taking the seat in a district made up largely of moderate conservatives, many of whom are more moderate than the rest of the state. 
 
 For South Carolinians, more than 500 of whom packed an auditorium at the Citadel on Monday night, the debate was the first opportunity they had to watch the candidates faces off in what has thus far been a race big on drama and light on actual issues. 
 
 The drama, of course, centers on Mr. Sanford. His campaign began with several public apologies for mistakes he made in his personal life and a plea for redemption. He quickly shifted into making the race about his experience and strong fiscal conservatism, but in mid-April court documents surfaced that once again threw his personal life into the center of the ring. 
 
 Mr. Sanford’s ex-wife claimed that he had slipped into her house to watch the Super Bowl with their 14-year-old son in violation of court orders. She found him leaving the property, using his cellphone as a flashlight, and complained to the courts that he had violated their divorce agreement. The two are scheduled to appear in court on May 9, two days after the election, to resolve the issue. 
 
 That made any questions Monday night that hinted at his marital difficulties particularly of interest. 
 
 Mr. Sanford, who faced impeachment and went through a divorce after he lied about hiking the Appalachian Trail when he went to visit an Argentine woman who is now his fiancée, used that experience in the debate to explain how he would reach across the aisle to improve Congressional relations. “You don’t go through the experience I had back in 2009 without a greater level of humility,” he said. 
 
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 Mr. Sanford, who held the seat before he was governor and voted to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, was asked if he would cast the same vote again. He did not answer directly, but said, “Do you think that President Clinton should be condemned for the rest of his life based on a mistake he made in his life?” 
 
 Mrs. Colbert Busch, who began the evening debating with much less political polish than Mr. Sanford, promised by the end of the evening to take a 10 percent pay cut if she was elected to Congress. 
 
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 She called Mr. Sanford “Henny Penny” for his dire predictions on the nation’s fiscal health, and took a more optimistic stance. “Our best days are ahead of us,” she said. 
 
 She cited former Vice President Dick Cheney’s words when she was asked her position on gay marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act, both of which are in front of the Supreme Court. “Freedom means freedom for everyone,” she said. 
 
 Mr. Sanford, citing his deep belief in federalism, said marriage was an issue that traditionally had been left to the states and should remain so. “Isn’t that really the way it’s supposed to work in the country?” he asked. 
 
 Mr. Sanford stayed close to his advocacy for limited federal spending that made him a hero among the fiscal hawks. Mrs. Colbert Busch stressed her own fiscal abilities honed as an executive in the maritime industry. 
 
 Mr. Sanford also hammered Mrs. Colbert Busch over what will probably be more than a million dollars in support from national Democratic groups, including the House Majority PAC, which is backed by the minority leader Nancy Pelosi. 
 
 Mr. Sanford used Mrs. Pelosi’s name with such frequency that several people following the debate on Twitter suggested someone start a drinking game. His point, which he made repeatedly, was that Mrs. Colbert Busch, the sister of the comedian Stephen Colbert, would be controlled by special interests, including labor unions, once she got to Washington. 
 
 “Nobody tells me what to do,” she snapped back at one point, “except the people of South Carolina’s First District.” ||||| Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch slapped Mark Sanford over his affair when he was governor in last night’s tense, and only, debate in the special election in South Carolina’s 1st District–and now the House Majority PAC is doing the same thing. 
 
 Obtained exclusively by The Daily Rundown, the Democratic super PAC’s latest television ad against Sanford features a female GOP voter from the district slamming the former governor for his disappearance from the state while in office and the disclosure that he was having an affair with an Argentinian woman. 
 
 “I used to be for Mark Sanford–but not anymore,” says Jennifer Stark of Mount Pleasant, S.C. “He skipped town to be with his mistress on Father’s Day. Sanford even asked his wife for permission to have the affair, and wasted our taxpayer dollars on himself.” 
 
 “I’m a Republican. But Mark Sanford just doesn’t share our values,” says Stark. 
 
 While other Democratic ads have heavily alluded to Sanford’s affair with the woman he’s now engaged to, House Majority PAC’s is the most direct yet. And it plays exactly to the demographic that Democrats know they must win over to be victorious–female Republican voters. 
 
 The ad shows footage from Sanford’s teary press conference when he returned from Argentina, after he had told his staff he would be hiking the Appalachian Trail. 
 
 The more recent bad headlines for Sanford flash across the screen, too–earlier this month, an AP report revealed his now ex-wife, Jenny, had accused him of trespassing, 
 
 National Republicans were blindsided by the accusations and they pulled funding from the race, dealing a serious blow to Sanford’s comeback bid. 
 
 Left to defend himself, Sanford’s gone on the attack against Colbert Busch for Democrats groups that have come to her side–including the House Majority PAC. Combined, Democratic groups have spent over $1 million on the race. 
 
 Sanford has criticized HMP specifically, and after they put his personal cell phone number in a fundraising pitch–he had printed it himself in a full-page apology ad in the local paper–he released out of state cell phone numbers that had called his phone. 
 
 The GOP nominee continued pointing fingers at Democratic outside groups backing Colbert Busch during their Monday evening debate. From NBC Politics: 
 
 Sanford’s fallback, time and again, during Monday’s debate was to tie Colbert Busch to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. When his Democratic opponent only agreed to one face-to-face encounter, Sanford took to debating a cardboard cutout of the former House Speaker on the streets last week. “It’s not believable to me that someone gives you a million dollars and not expect something in return,” said Sanford, arguing his Democratic opponent would be a reliable vote for Pelosi. 
 
 But Colbert Busch fought back, and wasn’t afraid to bring up the governor’s past personal failings. 
 
 During a question on the sequester and how to slash federal spending Monday, Colbert Busch saw her chance to pounce. “When we’re looking at fiscal responsibility,” said Colbert Busch, “it doesn’t mean you take the money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose.” Sanford said he didn’t hear Colbert Busch’s rebuttal and turned the question back to the sequester. 
 
 The special election takes place on May 7 for the chance to succeed now-Sen. Tim Scott. While an automated survey from the Democratic-aligned Public Policy Polling last week showed Colbert Busch up nine points, both sides believe the race is much closer than that and likely within the margin of error.
– Mark Sanford clashed with Elizabeth Colbert Busch last night in the pair's only debate in their race for a South Carolina congressional seat—and any hope the former governor may have had that his "Appalachian Trail" affair wouldn't be mentioned vanished 25 minutes into the slugfest. "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," Colbert Busch told the Republican, referring to his use of state funds to visit his mistress in Argentina, Politico reports. "You voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and to impeach President Clinton for an extramarital affair," a moderator later asked him. "Would you vote those ways again?” “I would reverse the question to you," Sanford replied. "Do you think that President Clinton should be condemned for the rest of his life based on a mistake that he made in his life?" Colbert Busch, who has a healthy lead in the polls, spent the debate on the attack, the New York Times reports, but Sanford hit back often, repeatedly trying to link his opponent to Nancy Pelosi—though he didn't bring his cardboard Pelosi debating partner. "Nobody tells me what to do except the people of South Carolina’s 1st District," Colbert Busch responded after one attack. A super PAC is also taking Sanford to task over the affair in a new attack ad.