Mark-ed For Trouble

Gov. Mark Sanford survived a censure motion from his own party earlier this week, and Politico.com declared the push for his resignation over and that he had ridden out the storm.

Though Monday’s vote does not have any binding effect on the governor, it serves as a sign that even many of Sanford’s enemies among the state party establishment may no longer have the will to continue calling for his resignation, barring any unforeseen or additional disclosures about the governor’s personal life.

For Sanford, it was an improbable outcome after events last week left him with a tenuous grip on the governorship. In a tell-all interview with The Associated Press last Tuesday, he referred to his Argentine mistress as his “soul mate” and confessed having “crossed lines” with a handful of other women, admissions that proved so damaging that more than half the Republican state Senate caucus called for him to step down in the aftermath.

But the party vote Monday night and a series of other factors have provided him with some breathing room, if not ensured his outright political survival, according to top South Carolina Republicans.

Only one problem: the people of South Carolina think he needs to go.

Jeff Neipp of Greenwood campaigned for Mark Sanford during both of the Republican’s races for governor.

Now, Neipp wants Sanford — caught in a scandal after disappearing from the country to secretly visit his lover — to resign.

“He left our state without any chain of command,” Neipp said. “That is totally unacceptable. I would like to see him resign with some dignity left. But if that’s not possible, he needs to be impeached.”

Other politicians’ agendas, the 2010 election and a state Constitution that makes impeachment difficult all mean Sanford is likely to stay on. But many S.C. residents believe that the governor no longer is fit to lead.

Two recent polls reflect the public unhappiness with Sanford:

• In a recent SurveyUSA poll, 60 percent of S.C. residents surveyed thought Sanford should resign.

• A Rasmussen Reports poll found most S.C. voters think Sanford’s ethics are the norm for politicians. Still, 46 percent said he should resign. (Thirty-nine percent said he should stay on the job; the rest were undecided.)

First of all, impeachment? That can't be pretty. And if there's growing pressure from the citizens that Sanford should resign, he may not have too much of a choice without completely wrecking the GOP in the Palmetto State.

I don't think this one's done yet. Not by a long shot.