Governor Mark Sanford in South Carolina

Politico points AR's readers to a potentially influential column by South Carolina's Republican Governor Mark Sanford who made the following candid observation on January 11th in the pages of The State concerning the Obama candidacy and the state of race relations and pluralism in the Old South and their inevitable impact on the South Carolina primary at this important moment in our national experience in which we have a formidable woman and a capable African-American man as viable candidates for the presidency of the United States. As a Republican Governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford has placed himself in the front ranks of progressive Republican leadership for a modern South. Governor Sanford's observations will be noticed in neighboring North Carolina and Georgia, where recent fundraising results indicate an unusual degree of southern interest in the Obama candidacy.

In short, just like hundreds before me and scores of others trying in their own
ways, I try to build bridges where I can — but I write because it all pales in
comparison to the change that may be before us.

Sen. Obama is not running for president on the basis of his race, and no one should cast their ballot for or against him on that basis. Nonetheless, what is happening in the initial success of his candidacy should not escape us. Within many of our own lifetimes, a man who looked like Barack Obama had a difficult time even using the public restrooms in our state. What is happening may well say a lot about America, and I do think as an early primary state we should earnestly shoulder our
responsibility in determining how this part of history is ultimately
written.