Morning Joe   |  February 18, 2013

Scarborough: I would've supported Sanford in 2012 without a second guess

Former S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford is back with a run for Congress, and he's just released a new political ad. Sanford first served in Congress from 2003 to 2011. The Morning Joe panel takes a look at Sanford's political record and his odds of regaining a seat on Capitol Hill.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

bob's doctor recommended a different option: math doesn't add up, and so for years while many have talked, i've fought to do something about it. i've cut spending, reduced debt and made government more accountable. more recently i've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes. but we can learn about a god of second chances and be the better for it. in that light, i humbly step forward and ask for vur help. i'm mark stanford.

>> he announced in january he's going to be running for congress. a lot of people i know for dragging him into the race. in this case it actually happened. and as you know, the guy left with an approval rating close to 60%. how's he doing in this race.

>> he's a great politician, and just my instinct is that had his perfect pitch for combining talking about spending fiscal issues, which was what his hallmark was in congress and before as governor, and the re-dempsey, very strong opening spot for a guy in a position to win that seat.

>> i can tell you when i was in congress, there was nobody more courageous than mark. i always tell the story where i'm sitting, gingrich's people are yelling at us saying we're going to destroy you guys. we're going to cut everything in your district and you're going to voted out, and i'm sitting there next to make saying, this is not good, this is not good. i've burned one bridge too many. and mark looks up and starts laughing and says, are they threatening us? and he got up and walked out. and they just flows, scared to death. that was just mark. he put long-term debt ahead of everything else.

>> well, he was a politician with a lot of national potential before this thing happened with him. a lot of republicans thought about him as somebody who could have been a serious 2016 player before this happened.

>> i would have supported him in 2012 without a second guess. and i think people are far more forgiving. this is not 1950 . i think you judge him by his life's work. remember bill clinton ,