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In the bizarre and often surreal world of politics -- where we like to say we've seen it all -- the strange situation involving South Carolina's Mark Sanford seems to have touched a nerve.

Sanford, for those who haven't heard (or who got lost hiking in the woods), is the two-term Republican governor who disappeared on Thursday and hadn't been heard from for four days -- and that includes last Sunday, Father's Day. His wife Jenny said she has not been in contact with him either, which led to a whole assortment of rumors.

Joel Sawyer, Sanford's spokesman, said that the gov. was hiking somewhere on the Appalachian Trail and checked in with his chief of staff yesterday. "It would be fair to say," Sawyer said, that Sanford was "somewhat taken aback by all the interest this trip has gotten."

(In a not very helpful coincidence, Sunday was also known as Naked Hiking Day. We don't want to know any more.)

Sawyer says Sanford will return to the office on Wednesday.

If Sanford has been "taken aback" by the attention, let me suggest why people are paying attention.

First of all, if the governor of a state is indeed missing, and no one knows where to find him, that is a serious concern. A chain of command must be established, and in the case of an emergency if no one can find him it's hard to figure out who's in charge.

But Sanford is not just any governor; he is a leading conservative who received national attention when he made a principled, though widely unpopular, decision earlier this year to reject $700 million in federal stimulus money that was due South Carolina from the Obama stimulus package. Even his fellow Republicans in the Palmetto State, including Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, objected to his decision. State unemployment is at 10.4 percent, the second highest in the country, and home foreclosures are rapidly rising.

(Sanford may be popular with conservatives around the country, but he's hurtin' at home, getting brickbats from members of both parties.)

Ultimately, the state Supreme Court ordered Sanford to take the money.

Second of all, Sanford has found himself on many lists as a potential Republican presidential candidate for 2012. When you are considering a run for president you just don't disappear for days at a time and expect no one to ask questions.

(Of course, there have been candidates who disappeared while running for president -- such as Fred Thompson and Chris Dodd, for example -- but that's another story.)

LG Bauer has said that the governor deserves time off to clear his head, now that the legislature has adjourned. But Bauer, interviewed on MSNBC, expressed his exasperation over the disappearance.

The Hill's Reid Wilson says that, according to Sanford's allies, it's just whining.

Sanford allies say his enemies -- most notably Bauer and state Sen. Jake Knotts (R) -- are simply taking advantage of an opportunity to get under the governor's skin, and that Sanford has a habit of going underground when he takes time away from the office.

"Maritza," commenting on the Politico's Web site, sounded concerned.

There goes his chance to become President in 2012. How could anybody trust him to be there when the going gets tough.

But "bpai99" was more philosophical of the whole thing:

This guy should be President. Someone in that office who disappears for days on end can do less harm.

categories: All Politics Is Local, Is It 2012 Yet?

4:59 - June 23, 2009

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