Maria: Suddenly That Name Will Never Be the Same, for South Carolina

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's mistress is the most exotic political love interest since Congressman Wilbur Mills' Argentine Firecracker, stripper Fanne Foxe, jumped into the Tidal Basin in 1974. Maria Belen Chapur, the multilingual, 41-year-old, divorced mother of two gave a written statement this weekend, addressed to her former boss Eduardo Feinmann at Buenos Aires TV C5N, acknowledging that leaked e-mails, documenting a romantic liaison with Sanford, were hers.

Feinmann read the four-minute statement (in Spanish here), which focused on an unnamed third party who accessed Chapur's Hotmail account and leaked her correspondence where it could potentially do the most damage: to Columbia, S.C.'s The State. Chapur has "a strong suspicion of who is responsible for this evil act" but says "for legal reasons, I am obligated to not reveal the name."
Her statement raises more questions than it answers: Who is the other boyfriend who Chapur insists was not the person who hacked and leaked? Is the Argentine press as voracious for scandal as its U.S. counterparts? Has the local la prensa curbed its reporting (despite her statement, Maria "remains elusive") since Maria was briefly a member? One thing is clear: Chapur is as good at obfuscation as her South Carolina lover.

Speaking of El Gobernador, is Sanford in love with romance? If so, does he particularly "spark" to the star-crossed variety? He has a bit of a romantic dilemma at home, of course, since Jenny Sanford, the new role model for wronged wives, gave an interview to the Associated Press Sunday ("He was told in no uncertain terms not to see her"), and is not likely to tolerate an open marriage. Over the weekend the First Couple hosted five other couples in a "spiritual boot camp" to discuss "not loving your wife as Christ loved the church."