South Carolina Media Ahead of the Pack

This morning (no doubt a century ago for the confessed cheater Sanford), after his chief of staff told his boss to come back a day early because "his trip was gaining a lot of media attention," The State's Gina Smith was there to meet the intrepid traveler's plane in Atlanta. The paper even ran a helpful sidebar on kooky gubernatorial behavior. Now the reporting team is promoting for Thursday copies of the apparently besotted state chief's e-mails from and to his "dear, dear friend," Maria. Sample: "I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself -- or two magnificent parts of yourself -- in the faded glow of the night's light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..." Stay tuned.