BEAUFORT, S.C. — Things are looking up for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford as he prepares to leave office on his own terms more than a year after the international affair that derailed his once-promising political career.
He will be replaced by his chosen successor. Tea party supporters across the country have taken up his messages about fiscal responsibility. Friends say his mid-life crisis is over.
Still, the two-term governor says he's not sure what's next and talks vaguely about writing a book or going back into business.
The previous chapters of his life include one of the decade's most-watched political implosions.
He disappeared from the state in June 2009 and told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but he was really in Argentina visiting his mistress.