South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's wife (soon to be ex) Jenny Sanford has filed for divorce this morning. This comes after it was, very publicly, revealed that Mark Sanford had a mistress in Argentina. So far Gov. Sanford has weathered the news and attempted removal from office from opposition (in his own party) but can he still stay in office without his wife standing by him. In class we discussed how important family is during a campaign process and it seems to also correlate to scandals as well. Generally the scandals involve the wife standing by the politician (Clinton, Edwards, etc...) but Jenny has decided to go her separate way, reportedly, with her children as well. So if Gov. Sanford can survive the attempts to remove him from office, will he be able to successfully run for (if he so chooses) any other political office (he can't run for Gov. of South Carolina in 2010 as this is his second term)? Without his wife standing by him and no family to rally around him, Sanford would likely not be able to relate to voters or escape the publicity surrounding this event as it continually drags out. After all, how many voters were married and flew to Argentina to meet their mistress whom they described as their "soul mate"? That would likely prove to be a very small demographic for voter turn out.
Personally I applaud the choice by Jenny Sanford and can't imagine why other politician wives have not done the same during scandals.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/11/jenny-sanford-files-for-divorce/
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I completely agree with Tony on this issue. I think it is amazing of this woman to stand up for herself in a situation which most women have stood by and waited for the dust to settle. This is how it really should be and I believe she is very strong individual for being able to do this. He cheated and the fact that he is a public official should not make it mandatory for his wife to stay with him and I think she made a very good decision.
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