Sanford & Sin

The embattled governor says he's had lust in his heart for other women, but he never crossed the "ultimate" line like he did with his Argentine mistress.

I am sure Jenny is relieved.

But he calls Maria Belen Chapur his "soul mate":

"This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said. "A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day."

During an emotional interview at his Statehouse office with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sanford said Chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.

He said that during the encounters with other women he "let his guard down" with some physical contact but "didn't cross the sex line." He wouldn't go into detail.

Sanford & Sin

Maria Belen Chapur, Mark Sanford's girlfriend, isn't very happy those emails were made public:

Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine woman linked to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, said Sunday that she had a “firm suspicion” who hacked into an e-mail account of hers that discussed her intimate relationship with the governor, but she declined to name the person, according to a statement read on the Argentine television station CN5.

Sanford & Sin

The governor is very quiet while calls for his resignation grow louder.
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Jenny Sanford, who kicked her husband out a couple of weeks ago, claims she is shocked by the trip that tripped her husband:

Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press that she discovered Gov. Mark Sanford's affair in January when she found a letter from him to the other woman. She said she told him to end the affair and he agreed to.

She said that when the governor told her recently he needed time alone to write, she specifically warned him not to visit the mistress. She was shocked to learn this week that he'd gone to Argentina to do just that.

You gotta hand it to ol' Mark, though: At least he asked his wife permission to visit his girlfriend:

South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford sat in her oceanfront living room Friday, recalling how her husband repeatedly asked permission to visit his lover in the months after she discovered his affair.

"I said absolutely not. It's one thing to forgive adultery; it's another thing to condone it," Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press during a 20-minute interview at the coastal home where she sought refuge with their four sons. They were her first extended comments on the affair.

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In the meantime, the mistress is staying out of sight.

The Sanford Soap Opera

Governor Mark Sanford's girlfriend has been identified. According to the publication La Nacion, she is 43-year-old Maria Belen Chapur:

In the local media, she was identified as Maria Belen Chapur, a [fresh, vigorous, well preserved] woman of Buenos Aires of 43 years, divorced for several years. She lives in an apartment in the neighborhood of Palermo. She has two sons from her previous marriage. She works for farming and livestock business/company. She maintains excellent physical state doing many sports.

Both outdoor and indoor, presumably.

Here is the link.