Mark Sanford, Elizabeth Colbert Busch Declare War on Allegiances

S.C. First Congressional District candidates came ready for a fight Monday night during the Patch/S.C. Radio Network debate held at The Citadel. 

Watch the full replay of the debate here.

More than 500 people packed the Holliday Alumni Hall as former Gov. Mark Sanford and businesswoman Elizabeth Colbert Busch took the stage for the only debate of the race. . 

Each candidate pushed on the other — Colbert Busch came ready to question Sanford's time as governor when he left the country unannounced, and Sanford came ready to question Colbert Busch on the alleged $1 million she's received from liberal donors. 

See how the crowd reacted to the candidates here.

Colbert Busch hit Sanford with two main zingers of the night. While rebutting on the question of sequestration, she hit hard at the tail end of her comments.

"When 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 said, alluding to Sanford's international and extramarital affair. Sanford subsequently returned taxpayer money to the state. 

Moderator Brendan Clark of Count on 2 News said, "She went there, Gov. Sanford," and threw the comment to Sanford for rebuttal. Sanford said he didn't hear her comment and continued onto policy. 

Colbert Busch's second zinger came during closing remarks when Sanford said "This is a tipping point in civilization," and she shot back "The sky is not falling, Henny Penny." 

Sanford hit Colbert Busch on her own support of his candidacy as governor more than a decade ago, and continued linking her to unions and outside liberals. 

When Colbert Busch questioned Sanford's role as governor in keeping the Charleston Port viable, Sanford said her $500 donation to his campaign during his time as governor proved she approved of the job he did. 

Several times during the debate and in his closing remarks, Sanford said $1 million of campaign contributions to Colbert Busch have come from outside, left-leaning contributors.

"Who's voice will you carry?" he asked, and then hearkened back to his own, proven record of his own fiscally conservative behavior in Washington, D.C., and in Columbia's governor's mansion. 

"I'm an independent business woman and no one tells me what to do," Colbert Busch said a number of times during the debate in response to Sanford's zingers linking her to unions and liberal donors.