SANFORD SINS - AT 5:16 P.M. ET:  Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, a possible Republican hopeful for president in 2012, doesn't have much hope left.  As you know, he was missing for, oh, four or five days.  Jokes were made.  Stories were told.  The governor was hiking.  The governor was resting.  The governor was on the trail.  Off the trail.  Decompressing after the strain of a legislative session.  Hosting the Tonight Show.  (No, no, strike that one.)

It turns out that the governor was in Argentina having an affair with an Argentinean woman:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina, said he had conducted an extra-marital affair with a woman in Argentina, ending a mystery over his week-long disappearance that had infuriated lawmakers and seemed to put his rising political career in jeopardy. He apologized for the affair and the deception surrounding his trip in a rambling, nationally televised news conference Wednesday afternoon.

“I hurt a lot of different folks,” Gov. Mark Sanford said during a news conference at the statehouse in Columbia, S.C.

Governor Sanford, 49, admitted that he had been in Buenos Aires since Thursday, not hiking on the Appalachian Trail as his staff had told reporters.

COMMENT:  A few weeks ago Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada, another rising star, admitted that he'd been unfaithful.  A bit further back, Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York admitted the same, and resigned.  His successor, current Dem Governor David Paterson also confessed.  Bill Clinton admitted it.  John Edwards, presidential candidate, confessed big time.  As Johnny Carson used to ask, "Who am I leaving out?" 

Just once I'd like to see a headline reading:  GOVENOR JONES STAYS FAITHFUL; ADMITS TO BEING A BORING MAN. 

Would CNN cover that news conference?

So two potential GOP presidential contenders, Ensign and Sanford, are history.  The party had better start building some new stars.  It should start by sending private eyes after them with cameras.

June 24, 2009