Mark Sanford Won't Face Criminal Charges

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford's embattled staffers really didn't know where he was when he bolted to Argentina to visit his lover last month, the State reports. Emails and phone records show that Sanford's chief of staff called the governor's cell phones 15 times during the trip without getting an answer. His communications director, meanwhile, told curious media that Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail, as Sanford had indicated to his staff. More»

(NEWSER) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted today that he has been having an affair with an Argentine woman, Politico reports. “I’ve been unfaithful to be my wife,” the Republican said at a teary and rambling news conference in which he explained his mysterious absence. “It began very innocently,” Sanford said. "About a year ago it sparked into something more than that. I have seen her three times since then, during that whole sparking thing. And at that point, we went into serious overdrive in trying to say, 'Where do you go from here?'" More»

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford is missing no more. The AWOL South Carolina governor surfaced early today at an Atlanta airport, saying he had just returned not from hiking the Appalachian Trail, but from cruising the Buenos Aires coastline, The State reports. As to why his staff said he was hiking, Sanford said he’d told them he might hike the AT, but later changed his mind. “I said ‘no’ I wanted to do something exotic.” More»

Fallen conservative rock star considers the next chapter

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford leaves the South Carolina governor's mansion next week a 50-year-old divorcee whose adultery ground his race toward political rock stardom to a screeching, sobbing halt. But though he's free to head out on the Appalachian trail for real this time, the AP notes in an exit interview that Sanford also leaves a valuable legacy: He successfully weathered calls for his resignation, chosen successor Nikki Haley will take the governor's oath, and the Tea Party has firmly latched onto his preachings of fiscal responsibility. His mid-life crisis, say friends, is mercifully over. So what's next? More»

He admits Florida rendezvous after it goes public

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford's life may have officially become a reality show today. The South Carolina governor announced during an unrelated news conference that he spent the weekend with the Argentine lover who cost him his marriage and nearly his job, reports the State . "The purpose was obviously to see if something could be restarted on that front given the rather enormous geographic gulf between us. And time will tell. I don't know if it will or won't." More»