so, congratulations mark sanford, the once and now future republican congressman from south carolina's first district. >>> you know, the first time he held that seat when he was then congressman sanford, when he held that seat the first time, he voted that president bill clinton should be impeached and thrown out of office for having an affair and lying about it. now mark sanford is back. that's who they picked. remember, there were 16 different republicans in the primary for this seat, but they picked this guy. congratulations, mark sanford, congratulations, republican party. best wishes for continuing with the whole crusading family values thing. >>> i tend to not have a great memory. by this time in the show each night, i don't remember how we got to this show at the top of the hour. i know it involves somebody putting eye make-up on me. it's a fog. that said, i distinctly remember this happened early last year. politifact, you are fired, you are a mess, fired. undermining the definition of the word fact in the english language by pretending to it in your name. the english language

mark sanford beat my sister, and i believe that means mark sanford is now my sister. and on behalf of my entire family, i want to say we're deeply sorry about him. now i know how kevin manson must have felt. i mean, i feel so betrayed by south carolina. well, if they're going to turn their backs on my family, i'm turning my back on them. no, i am. from now on -- and i never thought i would ever say this -- i am from north carolina. no, i have to. i have to! i'm a tar heel now whatever the [bleep] that means. and as a north carolinan, i love our state bird, the cardinal. that's a stupid bird. but it's mine now and i love it as much as our state dog, the plott hound. jesus, well, whatever. but most shockingly, i will no longer enjoy south carolina's tanky, savory, juicy and deeply delicious barbecue, made with our unique mustard-based sauce. now instead i now officially love north carolina sauceless vinegar-based meat product that they call barbecue. mmmm. i'll tell you what... ( cheers and applause ). i'm going to get me some. here we go. here we go. for lulu. ( cheers

in a new public policy poll, mark sanford is at 47%, elizabeth colbert busch is 46%. weeks ago, colbert busch led by nine points, 50-41 after he faced trespassing allegations by his ex-wife, jenny. he will be in court, mark sanford will, on those charges thursday, just two days after the election. tonight, usa today reports cameras will be allowed in court. there will, of course, be many more cameras in court thursday if mark sanford wins tomorrow night. joining me for his first national interview since getting the big job, jamie harrison, newly elected chairman of the south carolina democratic party, and krystal ball. mr. chairman, how does it look? >> looks good right now. we really believe that elizabeth will pull this victory out tomorrow. i tell you, it will be huge, historic. it is almost the equivalent of saying some super democratic giant losing to a republican. but we're going to do that here in south carolina. >> krystal ball, on the poll on the race, it is 47% say they think colbert busch is too liberal, 43% say the position is just right, 38% say mark sanf

this poster boy and you already have democratic figures tweeting jokes about mark sanford, saying he is going to be on the foreign affairs committee, lord knows he knows a lot about foreign affairs. >> steve, following on what nia said, chris cillizza wrote that sanford victory puts him in the house republican conference. not only do late night jokes start again, more importantly, every goper will be asked whether they support sanford, what they think of serving with him. the narrative that republicans have a woman problem already new life. little they can do about it. is it a problem for the caucus? >> i don't think it is an enduring problem, it is what it is. it is somewhat embarrassing that he is back, his behavior was deplorable, no shortage of hiking trails in washington, d.c. area, on the good side of it. it is a republican district and what his opponent didn't do in the race, she didn't differentiate from house democrats. if you run as a democrat in a republican district or republican in a democratic district and you want to be evaluated on your own standing, your own record,

the republicans who just can't stand mark sanford who says to hell with him. er colbert bush's seat in 2014 and probably win it. and the democrats are saying if sanford wins we'll put someone who is less to the left than colbert bush. the point is mark sanford is a damaged politician, and his--the fact that he's in a district that a democrat hasn't held in 30 years is why it's even close. otherwise it would have been a disaster. i'm interested to hear what eric bohlert has to say about it. >> cenk: before we go to bohlert, i'm sure you're right but i disagree with that. she's good coined once he establishes himself, it will be harder to root him out. she's not that far left. >> she's come over to the right but you have to listen to what ben said. this is not a district that the democrats would have a chance in. they know its money wasted because the next time around the republicans will come up with a more unifying figure running against colbert bush and presumably win that race. this is not a case of what you think it is. >> cenk: no, you win by winning. and i

mark sanford, it's like john edwards became drunk upper man and mark sanford became lex luther. he was a healer. >> cenk: and unlike newt gringrich, we all knew his cancer-stricken wife for a long time. >> and she was amazing, we loved her, yes. >> john: is this a bad trend that there are less and less swing districts in the country where both parties have somewhat of a chance to win. >> more swinging, but because they--as they think in the south, well, he's got real good taste in mistresses. because he's dating evita. and she's hot. >> john: i think you're right. you think it's a level that to some degree people respect him for having great taste in second wives? >> absolutely. >> they don't care. that's especially, men the southern men i've heard them say it. my dad's golfing buddy's says it it. >> john: my theory is he's an activity. and once you understand through the language difficulty that he's not that bright, it's going to be tough for her living in georgetown. all of his old friends when he was in d.c. before, i wonder if their wives will have him back over the house w

so, congratulations mark sanford, the once and now future republican congressman from south carolina's first district. you know, the first time he held that seat when he was then congressman sanford, when he held that seat the first time, he voted that president bill clinton should be impeached and thrown out of office for having an affair and lying about it. now mark sanford is back. that's who they picked. remember, there were 16 different republicans in the primary for this seat, but they picked this guy. congratulations, mark sanford, congratulations, republican party. best wishes for continuing with the whole crusading family values thing. ♪ [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] [ telephone ringing ] capella university understandsm back from rough economic times. employees are being forced to do more with less. and the need for capable

[bleep] mark sanford. now, folks, of course other people say it's obama's fault like "new york times" columnist maureen dowd who recently wrote the job of the former community organizer and self-styled uniter is to somehow get congress to do the stuff he wants them to do. it's called leadership. yes, the definition of leadership is getting people who despise you to work with you. it's also the definition of the eagles. so obviously there's plenty of blame to go around, folks, including blaming -- and i can't believe i'm saying this -- the voters. because there's a new study in the proceedings of the national academy of sciences or p-nas that says partisanship goes deeper than we thought. >> liberal and conservative study participants were given two bucks to spend on a light bulb and had to choose between a 50 cent incan cecent bulb or the $1.50 compact fluorescent bulk. both chose the efficient bulb but if it was labeled with a sticker that said protect the environment those who identified themselves as po

mark sanford there with a one-point lead. you know that means they're basically even. momentum, according to the last couple weeks, shifting clearly toward him. two weeks ago sanford was trailing colbert-busch by nine. tells you which the wind is blowing. despite how he made hiking the appalachian trail a national punch line. despite recent headlines about his family problems, and despite the national republican committee basically washing their hands of him, mark sanford could very well win tomorrow's race. what's up in south carolina? chris cillizza got my interest in this with his column today. he's an msnbc political analyst. i loved your column, because i think, first of all, i once heard this in a philosophy class in georgetown. the difference between free will and free choice, free will means you get to do what you want to do. free choice gets to mean you get to decide among a limited number of options. now, the voters get two choices. the democrat or sanford. and i think that's probably explaining all you need to know about why this is tight. >> well, chris, i t

reports as many as five pregnancy os kurd among the women during their time in captivity. >>> mark sanford the former south carolina governor predicts 54% of the vote in a congressional election defeating elizabeth colbert busch. he held that same seat in 2005 to 2001. sanford's political career ended after an extra marital affair with an argentinian woman came to life. the two are now engaejd. >>> on wall street the dow jones industrial average made history on tuesday t. dow rallied 87 points yesterday to close above 15,000 for the first time in its 117-year history. we'll have much more on that just ahead in business. >>> two capitol hill now where some congressional republicans are calling new testimony into the obama administration's handling of the deadly attacks on the u.s. consulate in benghazi a damming indictment. nbc's tracy potts joins us from washington. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that testimony coming from gregory hicks. he was the no. 2 diplomat in libya when a consulate was set up and attacked last fall. two ambassadors were killed. now in this testimony, we ha

we did get comments about mark sanford who won his election last night. dorene peterson says mark sap ford? really? i guess stupid is as stupid does. don griffith says bill's state of delaware, big winners on same-sex marriage. south carolina a lose her, electing the biggest lose her, mark san forbid. on the sexual assault. >> i chose to be born in the right state. >> that's true. it's truth. karen says on sexual assault. what's the difference between the military and the catholic church? nothing. they both turn their heads to sexual assault. >> bill: that's an interesting comment that occurred to me, too, that these -- some of the military commanders who overturn verdicts, jury verdicts of sexual assaulted are very much like the bishops who look the other way and didn't report when there were known cases of priests abusing little boys. paul calling from out in the albany, oregon. hey, paul. >> good morning, sir. how are you? >> good. what's your thought on this? what can we do about it? >> i am a career military guy served in every echelon. he was a warra

slaver web need i remind us, so they have never lived by -- >> it's not all southern in the stance mark sanford. be very careful about. but the difference with mark weiner his wife, if you watched that commercial all the way through, it wends his wife sitting next on him on the steps. mark sanford's wife wasn't sitting next to him. we live in any culture people are living out loud, whether it's facebook or whatever it is, and so there's less of a shock value than there used to be, and i do think ther that's a serious issue. there's something about public mortality that's shaped by whether someone thinks highly of you or not highly of you, and we talked about teen morality and how public moray shapes what people do. it would be better if politicians went to bed alt night thinking about what their constituents thought about them and how they lived their life and treated their family. overnight a great thing. i like mark sanford's political views better than t woman he wha is running against but i don't think it's great he didn't pay more of a consequence. >> would you have voted for him if you li

years after taking his political career on a seemingly endless hike up the appalachian trail, mark sanfordd retrieve it tonight, when he faces elizabeth colbert bush in south carolina's first district special election. despite his victory in the republican primary last month, sanford was largely written off by the national party following trespassing charges filed by his wife, jenny. even today, gop elders were not exactly falling all over themselves to endorse sanford. >> the voters of first district of south carolina will make their decision. and just like any one of us or any of the 435 members of congress, we don't get to choose who they are their eye electorate gets to decide who they are. we'll see what the outcome is tonight. >> with friends like those, and yet the disgraced former governor has nevertheless managed to stay in the race. a new poll finds sanford leading colbert bush by one point leading into today's contest. erasing bush's nine-point lead last month. the race has centered on values. today's charleston "post and courier" notes that sanford has painted colbert bush as a

mark sanford beat my sister. and i believe that means mark sanford is now my sister.n behalf of my entire family, i want to say we're deeply sorry about him. i feel so betrayed by south carolina. well, if they're going to turn their backs on my family, i'm turning my back on them. no, i am. from now on, and i never thought i would ever say this, i am from north carolina. no, i have to. i have to! i'm a tar heel now. what the [ expletive ] that means. >> whatever that means. the rewrite is next. e rule num. a great cup of coffee should be easy as one, two... well, just one. new single serve cafe collections from maxwell house now available for use in the keurig k-cup brewer. always good to the last drop. thto fight chronic. osteoarthritis pain. now available for use in the keurig k-cup brewer. to fight chronic low back pain. to take action. to take the next step. today, you will know you did something for your pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a pain reliever fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce

mark sanford beat my sister. and i believe that means mark sanford is now my sister.lf of my entire family, i want to say we're deeply sorry about him. i feel so betrayed by south carolina. well, if they're going to turn their backs on my family, i'm turning my back on them. no, i am. from now on, and i never thought i would ever say this, i am from north carolina. no, i have to. i have to! i'm a tar heel now. what the [ expletive ] that means. >> whatever that means. the rewrite is next. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers. i had[ designer ]eeling enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many,

mark sanford. [applause] acknowledge a to god of not just second chances members, i am questioning the purpose. the speaker of the house promises action. >> the house will work its will but sixth, seventh chances. >> and the decision by chris christie to undergo weight-loss surgery. >> your opinions on this do not really matter a whole helluva lot. hill,s week on capitol three foreign service employees testified about the attack in benghazi last year that killed four americans including christopher stevens. here is his deputy, gregory hicks. >> i had the ambassador on the other end and he said, gregg, we are under attack. >> in tripoli at the time of attack, he said he wanted to send a special forces team to benghazi, but was turned down. >> how did the personnel react to being told they were standing down? curious. >> asked about susan rice's comments that the attack was the result of a spontaneous protest, hicks says he's that -- says that he was stunned. he was later demoted to a desk job. on fo

i encountered many idea logically mark sanford was closer. we know this is a district far more heavily conservative and republican, so elizabeth colbert bush had an uphill climb. she made a formidable case, and in part they were trying to seize upon some of the missteps and failings that mark sanford had when he was governor. colbert bush tried to focus more on his leaving his post as she described it, but when it came down to the time of voting, there were also people we talked to who said they didn't like what he had done, they don't respect it, don't necessarily forgive what he had done, but they felt it was more personal than in the public domain, so they ended up voting for him. it's hard to measure how much dislike there was when he won by about nine points. that's a pretty big margin. not as big as the difference between romney and president obama last november, but he won. he's going back to washington, to try to rebuild his public life. throughout much of the campaign he talked about the past failings, and i think at this point he's

. >>> i want to shift gears to mark sanford's congressional win. >> that is indeed a switch. >> sharpthey're raising the question of what his win means for anthony weiner, of all people. does it bode well for political come backs? >> i suppose so. i suppose that if anthony weiner would probably try and avoid doing some tweeting on the appalachian trail or something like that, i think they're very separate venues. we're talking about south carolina versus new york city. we're talking about different circumstances. and i want you to note that i'm probably the only person who has come on television who has not made a joke about mark sanford. >> bob franken, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. >>> and now to the deadly civil war in syria which claimed by some estimates more than 70,000 lives. the stories of the atrocities there are tough to cover as our own chief foreign correspondent richard engel knows all too well. they were kidnapped in syria in december but thankfully they made it out okay. now they're back to investigate allegations of chemical warfare. >> reporter: rebels br

thank you very much. >>> meanwhile, in south carolina, it's judgment day for mark sanford. his political future is now in the hands of the voters. sanford's special election fight against elizabeth colbert bush recapture his old congressional seat has turned into a debate over the former governor's personal transgressions while he was back in office as governor. joining me for our daily fix, chris cillizza, msnbc contributor editor and editor of post politics.com and nbc correspondent, kelly o'donnell. what's the outlook going into the race, it's been hard-fought and tightly contested. >> it certainly has. and we were with both candidates, the former governor and elizabeth colbert busch as they cast their own ballots, we talked with voters and it is one of those things that's hard to predict. it should be a republican district. it has been in the past. romney won big here. but elizabeth colbert bush has gotten a lot of attention. a lot of help from national democrats who have pumped money here. and when we've been just in town for a couple of days. boy, i can tell you the ai

but there's a big question about whether or not women in south carolina trust mark sanford. when it comes to that? >> i've seen polling numbers that indicate over 70% of the women don't like him. and there's a sanford fatigue in this state and especially in the first district. they'd like him to slink off back to wherever he was. he's got a plantation dune in buford, sit on the dock and fish, but get out of public life. i think all of us, republicans and democrats, will be glad when mark sanford is out of public life. >> you know, i'll tell you the voters are going to have their say in the first district. it is tight. it is close. but the wonderful thing that the democrats have done is they haven't talked about a lot of public policy down there. if it was for lulu busch we wouldn't have boeing sitting down there, with the policies, so it has been i would say a race about personalities. and right now, it's going to be really tight, and whoever has the best get out the vote, not the best campaign, who's going to win that, and at the end of the day, that's what's going to happen

voters are voting, and by tonight we'll know if mark sanford's comeback quest is a success or if elizabeth colbert-busch is the state's pick to head to the house. >>> also this morning, will congress say yes to directly arming the rebels in syria. we're going to talk to the man leading that push, bob menendez. >>> and a steady stream of retirements is turning to a new generation. 40% turnover in the last five years. why are both parties having a hard time not just keeping senators but finding new top-notch candidates to replace them? >> good morning from huntington, new york. it's tuesday, may 7th, 2013. and this is "the daily rundown." happy nurses week! and now here is chuck todd. >> thanks to cara teal and the staff at huntington hospital and all the nurses across the country that have been sending in those good morning greetings. keep them up. anyway. any minute now, we'll go live to cleveland for an update from the police department there on those three women found alive who have been missing for a decade. an amazing story. and we're going to bring it to you the minute that press conf

. >> mark sanford gives a round of victory interviews after last night's big win. talk with nbc senior political editor mark murray about the election's big take away. ♪ [ female announcer ] from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. ♪ for sein a whole new way. for seeing what cash is coming in and going out... so you can understand every angle of your cash flow- last week, this month, and even next year. for seeing your business's cash flow like never before, introducing cash flow insight powered by pnc cfo. a suite of online tools that lets you turn insight into action. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve dai

and how does wiener's hope for political revival compare to mark sanford?contributor jimy williams is going to join me to hash all of that out next. g will it? no, not at all. how many of these can we do on our budget? more than you think. didn't take very long, did it? summer's here, so are the savings. that's nice. post it. already did. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get memorial day savings, like 4 bags of miracle-gro® garden soil for just $10. a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies, celebrex is proven to improve daily physical function so moving is easier. celebrex can be taken with or without food. and it's not a narcotic. you and your doctor

mark sanford won it by half that margin.as a negative impact of his, you know, of his misdeeds in the past, his relationship with an argentine woman and misleading people where he was, he was on the appalachian trail. all of that hurt him. but she knew the only way she had a shot was to portray herself as an independent, moderate, conservative democrat, but sort of hard when your brother is stephen colbert. and they have a lot of members in their family and they aren't all as goofy and liberals he is. >> tomorrow's hearings could define the obama presidency. i don't think i'm overstating it. what are your thoughts? >> we have two witnesses tomorrow that we have some sense of the direction of what they might say. we have a state department official and a counterterrorism section who says -- who apparently will say they were cut out on the night of september 11th from doing their jobs. and we have the deputy chief of mission in libya, mr. hicks, who is going to tell us why the military -- the africa command did not authorize,

i'd be careful taking a road trip with mark sanford, if i were you, chad.t could turn out very badly i hear. >> if we want to look at big-picture stuff, i'm wondering, chad, if this tells us about the public's ability to -- i don't know how you want to phrase it but forgive, forget, absorb what are clear transgressions, character issues? >> well, special elections are always quirky. dick's right, it's all about turno turnout. wifs the governor yesterday and we talked about redemption, the story of king david in the bible. the ultimate redem,inptionredem everybody he went through. i think his sincerity has come out in all of this. it was just a few years ago that democrats told us that private lives didn't matter and it was all about what you did in public. governor sanford has a solid voting record, a solid record of being a fiscal and social conservative. i think the voters in congressional district one are going to put him back in the congress. >> i have to ask you, dick, before i let you both go, about that controversial comment you made last week about

mark sanford is returning to elected office. he beat elizabeth colbert hsh busch last night. sanford had massive wins in conservative outlying counties and some by as much as 40% and a huge cash advantage for colbert-busch and took in almost a million dollars, sanford received about a fifth of that amount. last night, mark sanford touched on a familiar theme from his campaign, second chances. >> i am one imperfect man saved by god's grace but one who has a conviction on the importance of doing something about spending in washington, d.c. and it's my pledge to every one of you here from this day going forward that i am going to be trying to be the best congressman that i could have ever been in working towards -- >> you know, willie, it's interesting. politico as they were talking about the race last night as the results came in said it wasn't even close. said the turning point was something that caused a lot of us to sort of raise our eye borro eyebrows. they said when sanford was mocked of debating the cardboard cutout of nancy

we forgive mark sanford, not because mark sanford to but because if you're a christian christ calls you to. that doesn't mean i want him representing me nationally pip point of bill clinton is that's fine, i've forgiven bill clinton, too. he was my governor before he was your president. the fact of the matter is i still didn't want him being president after that interdent. mark is having a lot of problems down here. i don't think there's a big shift in the belief of the electorate toward something colbert-bush is doing. i don't necessarily want to put my name or neck on the line for a guy who really did a poor job of shepherding his personally or his professional life as governor. >> it's a strange thing, ron, trying to figure out how the voters go on this thing. you had witter in louisiana involved in professional sex workers, in d.c. and voters like him. they're talking about him for governor. in nevada it's legal to have those businesses out there, sex workers. and poor john gets picked out of politics. what are the rules, as bill maher would say, what are the new rules these days in

mark sanford's career, win or lose, is over.is a disgraced figure in south carolina, he is a disgraced figure in the house of representatives if he wins. steven colbert's sister, who pronounces the t wins, she will be a very, very endangered democratic in a district that tends to be 10%-15% republican and the life history of those kind of democrats in those kind of republican districts is not good the first time she gets a serious opponent. the real thing i would love the mark son ford drama to go away. i think all of these people who want hungering for second chances, wash the feet of lepers for 10 years and then come back and say can i have a second chance. anyway the same lesson as far as i'm concerned applies to anthony wiener who is debating running for mayor of new york. please, go away and take eliot spitzer with you. cenk: not enough leper cleaning. there's a couple of parts i disagree with. if mark son ford wins, the fact that he's disgraced is not going to matter at all. i think he stays in that seat for a long, long t

mark sanford. he showed the sensitivity that any parent envies by bringing his 14-year-old son on stage on election night when he won the primary to meet his new stepmother, his mistress. i have to tell you, he is a jerk. welcome to the club. >> it sounded more like a soap opera the way that he was describing it. >> i am told they are revising the geography textbooks in state schools to show the most dict route from the appalachianrail to washington this through argentina. never been done before. have to love this guy. he calls his ex-wife and says, do you want to run the campaign for me? he was going to pay her. it is a republican state and he ran a challenger's campaign. he was there with the cutouts of nancy pelosi, and colbert-bush was in a little bubble. >> you have to hand it to him, he won the election. >> i had said on this program when we first talked about this that i thought sanford was a great position. he has held the district. that district has not gone democratic in decades. it is a

joining us mark sanford. mark, good to have you on the show this morning. how are you feeling?ut, all the things i guess you feel at the end of a campaign. >> okay. so what do you think? first of all, everyone's saying you're going to leave politics if this doesn't go through. what's your attitude on the day before knowing how this is going to turn out? >> well, i mean, you know, as joe can attest, harold's there onset. you spend months of your life rather intensively out talking to people, talking about ideas you believe in, talking about themes you think are important in terms of the direction of the country. and you get ultimately to the day of judgment and today is that day and, again, you feel a mixture of calm in that you've worked so hard and you're waiting for the verdict. and at the same time as i mentioned a moment ago, worn out and it's been a long five months. >> and given, you know, the journey that you've been on and the personal issues at play, how are the polls looking in terms of women and certain votes you might have lost given all that's happened? >> well, yo

really believe it is time to make a clean break from mark sanford. saying to us that even though they don't like what mark sanford, did referring to the affair that he had four years ago, there were people who told us, they did end up voting for him because overall, their views are more in line with his. you don't often get that sort of a dynamic when you talk to voters after they've cast their ballot. not feeling really great about their choice but it is the choice for them. it is a heavy gop district. elizabeth colbert busch has had a lot of money to be on the airwaves here. a lot of excitement and energy around her campaign. we've spent time on her campaign bus. the polls are closing at 7:00. i would not be surprised either way how it turns out. >> that is because the latest polling shows the race is virtually a dead heat. polls showed elizabeth up by a few points but now a different story today. >> reporter: one of the thing that mark sanford would say, in the last weeks he believes he's been effective between making a link between elizabeth colb

the voters of south carolina have spoken, mark sanford beat my sister and i think that means he is now my sister. >> this is "way too early." thanks for being up with us this morning. we have a lot of news to talk about on this thursday, may 9th. emotional testimony on capitol hill as congress continues to investigate the death of three american diplomats in libya last september, the revelations that came to light and how the white house is now responding. a jury convicts jodi arias of first-degree murder for killing her boyfriend. the next step in the salacious case, will the 32-year-old face the death penalty? we'll hear from the newly convicted murderer. >>> we begin in cleveland. 52-year-old ariel castro, new face of evil, has been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape just days after three women and a young girl were rescued from his home. castro's two brothers were also arrested but have not been charged with any crimes. all three men are expected in court later today. >>> the cleveland "plain dealer" said that castro captured them all to lure them to hi

were michelle sanford, let's pretend and ran off with her latin love. >> no, no, no. >> what if mark sanford was a woman? who would have become of michelle sanford? >> if that's her name. >> would she have been reelected in a landslide? >> anthony weiner. what if he was antonia weiner, taking a picture of her junk. let's pretend that that's the case. >> many pictures of her junk. >> and then posted them all over, would she be running for mayor? if chris christie were kristina and she weighed, you know, a lot and said i'm doing gastric or whatever lad band, what would it be like? would she even be elected? are there double standards? >> i think we have come a long way in our country, but i think we still have a long way to go, and there are many, many double standards. >> i think you're right. i don't think we're overcoming those for a long time. >> go ahead. >>> we were going to talk about the guys dancing on his treadmill, but instead kim kardashian has taken over that spot. >> here is kim on the cover of "us." wearing a two-piece by keen any. i think she looks pretty good. she's pregnant o

it was a long and winding trail but mark sanford appears to be out of the woods. he is no longer the former governor of the appalachian trail, as you put it, he is now congressman-elect sanford. >> some guy came up to me the other day and said, you look a lot like lazarus. >> reporter: once left for dead in the political wilderness, mark sanford blazed a comeback trail that will take him all the way to washington. >> i just want to acknowledge a -- a guy not just with second chances, but third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth chances because that is the reality of our shared humanity. >> reporter: sanford captured a vacant south carolina congressional seat by a decisive margin, overcoming a scandal that nearly destroyed his political career. the extramarital affair with a mistress from argentina that he once falsely claimed was a hike on the appalachian trail, may finally be behind him. is this redemption? >> yeah, i think we're always on the search for redemption. i think that this certainly political redemption. we'll see where things go from here. it's les

. >>> also, a guy knows a thing or two about scandal, new congressman and tea party darling, mark sanford, on his first full day on the job. >>> plus the hunt for justice. we go live to cleveland for the latest on the ariel castro case and to boston, where the accused bomber's chilling message is scrawled inside his final hideout. i'll speak to the former fbi profiler who was the model for "the silence of the lams" about both clayses. >>> i want to begin with xroo extraordinarily violent weather. there could be tornadoes tonight from north dakota to texas. a series of tornadoes hit texas last night and six people are already declared dead. joining me on the phone is rona cotton, who hid in a closet with three of her four children as a twister ripped the roof off her home in granbury, texas. sounds like you had a terrifying night last night. tell me what happened. >> the wind was howling really bad and then it got worse. next thing we know, we had over baseball size hail so i put the kids in the hall and i was watching out the front door, and then here's the tornado right there. so i ran t

mark sanford is now officially back in politics. his opponent elizabeth colbert-busch handily yesterday. he made slight reference to his personal failings which weren't enough to keep him out of office. >> [ inaudible ] this campaign would have been hugely [ inaudible ] a long time ago [ inaudible ] at the end of the day i will carry across the threshold by an incredible team of volunteers. >> i would say chronicled deficiencies as a man actually. he managed to make the contest a referendum of democrats in a deep red district. elizabeth colbert-busch may also have suffered from a lack of political experience and not spending enough time schmoozing the public. the end of this election by the way does not mark the end of mark sanford's personal trouble. he is scheduled to appear in court tomorrow to answer his ex-wife's charges of trespassing. today three state employees will testify before the house oversight and government reform commit even though congress has already seen some 25,000 pages of documents and heard plenty of testimon

since nancy pelosi san francisco values versus mark sanford local values. vote your values. >> why do democrats always have to be liberalized by their number. >> look what happened to scott brown in massachusetts. you know, he lined up with, you know, on the supreme court with scalia and that was very damaging to him. i think it depends on your audience. >> scott brown at least tried to distinguish himself from the far right of the republican party because he knew he was running in massachusetts could. colbert-busch have done more to distinguish herself from the democrats in the house and is that necessary? is that something that democrats ought to get more comfortable -- >> al franken runs locally, doesn't do the national media, doesn't have to run, not that it's not a right wing state. he's won because he runs in the state for the state of the state. >> democrat been married for 40 years wins every time. number one, he's a very good mayor but number two he's established his own identity. >> we need more tommys out there. why michael bloomberg makes conser

sfp there's far she wrapped it all in one question and that's what's driving people away from mark sanfordanford fatigue. i think many republic republicans are going to say home. they believe they can rin win it in 18 months. one race at time. >> corey for folks who are not as familiar with south carolina politics as you guys, tell us a little bit about this district. how is that a guy like mark sanford could very well win this thing with all of the baggage? >> south carolina is a lit call circuit. it's known for these kind of antics. we're a state that tends to cult fie these bizarre politicians and have for a very long time. it eels really anuninterrupted history in south carolina. you remember alvin green and now we have the scenario where a disgraced governor wants to come back to the job he formerly had and all of the scandal and what not along the way. i kind of wonder what mark sanford does if he loses on tuesday. and i'm thinking maybe that he might be able to get a grant or something to just maybe keep up the campaign for a couple of years as maybe a tourist attraction fb south ca