Mark Sanford, Repeat Offender

For Mark Sanford, love means always having to say you're sorry, and apparently always answering the phone when the AP calls.

In still more drips from his never-ending, often conflicting stream of confessionals, Sanford told the AP Tuesday that he had "crossed lines" with other women before his Argentine mistress, but never "the ultimate line"..."the sex line." Dear lord make it stop.

Nope, he's not done. Sanford also told the AP in excruciating detail that he had seen his mistress several more times than he admitted to during last week's statehouse press conference --seven times by his newest count.

The first encounter came, where else, but on a Uruguayan dance floor in 2001. Six more meetings followed, culminating with a trip to the Big Apple in January that included his lady friend and a "trusted spiritual adviser" to "chaperon" when Sanford said he intended to call the whole thing off.

Finally, the AP writes, "Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife."

Sanford also sent an open letter of apology to his supporters yesterday, days after apologizing in a cabinet meeting to his top officials and in a press conference to his wife, his children, his staff, the people of South Carolina, "people of faith" and, repeatedly, to his friend Tom Davis.

In the letter, now posted on his website, Sanford writes, "Dear Friends, I write to apologize and ask for your forgiveness." He says he thought he would resign last week, but was talked out of resigning by "a long list of close friends" who felt his children deserved to see a story of failure and redemption, not just of failure.

That's looking like a taller order by the day.