Will Mark Sanford's sex scandal kill his campaign — or save it?

Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford isn't running away from the sex scandal that destroyed his marriage and, at least temporarily, his political career, as he makes a comeback bid with a run for Congress. Sanford was a rising GOP star until he mysteriously disappeared in June 2009. He told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he really went on a secret trip to visit his "soulmate" in Argentina. Now, in a new campaign ad, Sanford tells voters that the tabloid nightmare he went through taught him valuable lessons that would serve him well in office. "I've experienced how none of us go through life without mistakes, but in their wake, we can learn a lot about grace, a God of second chances, and be the better for it," Sanford says in the ad. "In that light, I humbly step forward and ask for your help in changing Washington." Watch the video:

Allahpundit at Hot Air, for one, isn't buying it. "There's shameless," he says, "there's really shameless, and then there's a guy touting his credentials on government accountability after he went AWOL as governor to visit his mistress on another continent and initially stuck taxpayers with the bill. The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin isn't buying Sanford's play for sympathy, either. "He'd like to characterize his misdeeds as 'personal,'" she says, "but they were anything but."

Not everyone dismisses Sanford's plea for forgiveness as a waste of breath. "It's a good ad," say Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake at The Washington Post. And that's hardly surprising, as "Sanford was always a gifted communicator on television. (It's why after spending three terms in the House he was elected governor and was talked about as a potential 2012 presidential candidate before his affair came to light.)" Obviously, there's a chance it won't work, but Sanford is clearly hoping "that by admitting his flaws and directly referencing the idea of second chances, he will be able to appeal to the Christian nature of the electorate."

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Catalina Camia points out at USA Today, however, that Sanford won't linger on this issue any more than he has to. In his bid for his old House seat, up for grabs since Tim Scott was appointed to the Senate, Sanford, who has better name recognition than anyone else in the 16-candidate field for the GOP nomination, plans to rely on a message that is far more conventional, and far more appealing to the GOP rank and file.