Mark Sanford Admits To Cheating On His Wife

Jillian Bandes | June 24, 2009 2:44 PM

Via a live press conference, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford just admitted to cheating on his wife with a woman in Buenos Aires. "It was just selfishness on my part," he said. The affair had been going on for a year. It began with an email.

Sanford's staff had said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but they weren't sure -- because he didn't tell anyone where he was for an entire week. I.e. he just took off. Didn't tell a soul. Just thought it would be cool. Then news broke that he wasn't, uh, hiking. He had to come clean.

I sat next to Sanford at a breakfast less than a month ago, where he wowed me and a group of journos about fighting President Obama's stimulus money. This is the guy who brought to hogs into the state legislature to fight overspending and congressional pork. The guy who was supposed to be the rising star of the Republican Party.

He is now a nobody.