S.C. Governor Runs Ad to Explain Rejection of Stimulus Cash

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford went on the offense in his prolonged battle with the Obama administration over the economic stimulus act, appearing in a new ad in which he seeks to explain his position to voters.

"For me, the easy thing would be to accept money handed out from Washington," the Republican says in the ad. "But the easy thing isn't always the right thing." The commercial is being paid for by Carolinians for Reform, an independent group run by a Charleston attorney.

In an interview late last week with The Fix, Sanford said he decided to appear in the ad to counter incorrect information being put out by his opponents and by the Democratic National Committee, which ran ads assailing him about his stimulus stance.

"If I care about my standing as I leave office, which I do because I am going to live here the rest of my life, then you have to set the record straight," Sanford said.

Sanford has emerged as the leading opponent to Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package -- making national headlines by rejecting then accepting stimulus dollars earmarked for his state. That decision ended weeks of letter writing between Sanford and the White House as he sought to use the hundreds of millions to pay down the state's debt and was told by the Obama administration that was not an acceptable use of the money.

"It's not surprising that Governor Sanford feels he needs to spend a quarter of a million dollars defending himself in a television ad after rejecting millions in funding for his state," said DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan. "Then again, if I had rejected $700 million for schools and public safety, I'd feel the need to go on TV and defend myself, too, but that doesn't excuse Governor Sanford for putting his political ambitions ahead of the needs of South Carolinians."

Sanford clearly has his eye on a 2012 presidential bid and views this fight with the White House as a perfect way to elevate his national profile among conservative voters who see smaller government as one of the party's pillars.

In the short term, however, Sanford is being pummeled at home. "The political math on it is certainly clear -- it's a political loser," he acknowledged. "It is burning, not building, political capital."

Of course, Sanford won't be standing for election in South Carolina anytime soon, so the flak he has drawn is likely to be less of a concern for him. Plus, Sanford has made a career out of his principled opposition to popular government programs -- from his six years in Congress to his 6 1/2 years as governor. The Sanford brand, then, is very much tied up with his defense of his stance on the stimulus dollars: "I am doing it because it's what I believe."

Make no mistake: Sanford is preparing to run for president in 2012. And, like him or not, he has staked out some solid ground among the most rabid of fiscal conservatives by picking this fight.

PRIME PRIMARIES

Primaries are often painted as the warm-up act to the general election, but sometimes they wind up eclipsing the main event -- the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign being a primary (heh!) example.

With so few issues differentiating the candidates, primaries are decided on style and strategy -- things The Fix loves about politics.