Sanford Digs In as Calls for Resignation Escalate

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford acknowledged today that he met with his Argentine mistress while on a state-funded trip last year and promised to reimburse South Carolina's coffers, the State reports. The state paid $8,000 for the governor to travel on business to Brazil and Argentina last June, and he met with the woman during the trip. More»

(NEWSER) - It's a relative tidal wave of good news for Mark Sanford: Wife Jenny issued a statement today calling his affair "inexcusable" but reiterating that she's willing to forgive him, reports ABC News. As for his political career, she says it's up to South Carolina voters and lawmakers whether to "give Mark a second chance." Her statement came just after a state investigation cleared Sanford of any legal wrongdoing in his overseas trips. More»

'Humbled' governor will strive to restore the trust of public, family

(AP) - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford considered resigning from office after his extramarital affair came to light, the Republican revealed today in an exclusive interview with the AP. But Sanford, who hasn't spoken publicly since Friday, said he spoke with close spiritual and political associates who advised him to fight to restore the public's—and his family's—trust in him. More»

Argentine mistress saw another man, but told Gov, 'You are my love'

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford’s lovey-dovey e-mails were discovered—and e-mailed to a South Carolina newspaper—by another man his mistress was dating, a former coworker tells the New York Times. He says the mistress, who’s been identified as María Belén Chapur, began dating a young Argentinean man a few months into her relationship with Sanford. He saw one of her e-mails to Sanford, and hacked her account to get the rest. More»

(NEWSER) - Mark Sanford went before the cameras to confess and apologize yesterday, a ritual that is typically “a schtick, a plastic act of absolution performed by men who are just as plastic,” writes Gary Kamiya of Salon. But not this time. Sanford “got all weird and human on us.” Suddenly “instead of a press conference, we had been carried into some Eternal Bedroom of Misery.” it was a trainwreck, Kamiya writes, but it was also that rare thing in a politician: an unscripted expression of emotion. More»