The Mark Sanford Show: Jenny, Maria, and Why He Probably Won't Resign

Another day, another round of apologies and biblical allusions from South Carolina's straying, formerly AWOL governor, Mark Sanford. This time, at a cabinet meeting, he apologized "to every one of you all for letting you down."

Sanford also likened himself to King David. He said David "fell in very significant ways, but was able to pick up the pieces." Later he issued a statement that said in part, "it is my hope that I am able to follow the example set by David in Bible – who after his fall from grace humbly refocused on the work at hand."

Nope, he's not offering to resign.

The drip-drip of scandalous details about Sanford's extramarital affair with an Argentine woman, meanwhile, continues apace. Today, Jenny Sanford tells the Associated Press that a letter from her husband to his mistress alerted her to the affair in January. She told him to break it off and was shocked to find out he was visiting the woman this week in Buenos Aires.

We learn that Sanford is going to reimburse the state for a 2008 trip to Argentina, that his mistress is named Maria Belen Chapur, and that she is "vigorous and well preserved." We also learn that the once presidential-timber governor has written a book on discipline -- the fiscal kind -- and it might still be published.

A new Survey USA poll finds 60 percent of South Carolinians think Sanford should resign. But don't wait around for politicians to make outraged calls for Sanford to step down. Republicans and Democrats alike have good political reasons for wanting him to stick around.

If Sanford resigns, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer will become governor. That would put him in a dominant position in what is shaping up to be a crowded Republican primary. Not surprisingly, Bauer's prospective rivals aren't anxious for that to happen. Bauer himself told the AP today that Sanford should stay, even as he acknowledged a resignation would be to his advantage.

As for Democrats, they can only benefit from a weakened chief executive. Sanford is barred by law from seeking a third term, but they will be able to run against a damaged brand if he stays in office.

Three Democrats already have announced their candidacies for governor -- attorney Mullins McLeod, state Sen. Vincent Sheheen and state Sen. Robert Ford. If that last name sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Ford, who is black, was an emphatic Hillary Clinton supporter during the presidential primaries last year. He said if a black man topped the ticket, "every Democrat running" would lose.

Ironically, Obama's success at spurring voter registration and turnout could help the Democratic nominee for governor of South Carolina next year. State Democratic Party chair Carol Fowler says the down economy could also put voters in a change mood. The state unemployment rate last month was 12.1 percent -- tied with Rhode Island for third highest in the country.

Republicans have governed South Carolina for 20 of the last 24 years, Fowler told me, "so it will be hard for them not to accept responsibility for the shape this state is in." She added: "When we have a good candidate for governor or another statewide office and we don't win, we don't lose by much. It's certainly something that's within reach."