Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford sent his family and through a frenzy when he went awol several days ago. When he resurfaced Wednesday, he held a press conference and admitted to his wife, sons, staff members and media that he was in Argentina with a woman with whom he's been having an affair.

"I've been unfaithful to my wife," Sanford told a news conference in Columbia, South Carolina. "I developed a relationship with what started as a dear, dear friend from Argentina."

Sanford, who seems outwardly nonchalant, choked up when he apologized to his wife and sons for "letting them down," and said he was equally remorseful for misleading his staff and supporters. He went on to say that he would immediately resign form is position as head of the Republican Governors Association, according to CNN.

Jenny, Sandofrd's wife, issued a statement Wednesday and revealed their marriage has been rocky for some time and she asked him to leave their home. However, she said she willing to work through their problems.

"I remain willing to forgive Mark completely for his indiscretions and to welcome him back, in time, if he continues to work toward reconciliation with a true spirit of humility and repentance," Jenny said.

The South Carolina Governor left without a trace and had not been seen since June 18. Stanford's staff told the media that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when questioned. It became clear has not being truthful when he was spotted in Atlanta, Georgia's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

When Sanford admitted he was in South America, he took responsibility for "shrouding this larger trip."

"I'm a bottom-line kind of guy. I'll lay it out, it's going to hurt, and we'll let the chips fall as they may," Sanford told reporters.

The affair began as a friendship eight years ago, but "over this last year, it developed into something much more than that," Sanford said.

"All I can say is that I apologize," he said, adding that he would appreciate a "zone of privacy" for the sake of his family.

Emails between the governor and his mistress, who is a resident of Argentina named Maria, have been released and confirm the affair.

In one July 10 message, Sanford told the woman about his plans to take a family vacation and meet with then-Republican presidential candidate John McCain who "has kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home ..." before he veered into more emotional territory.

"You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty," Sanford wrote, according to the e-mails published on the newspaper's Web site.

"I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light -- but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..."

"...while all the things above are all too true -- at the same time we are in a ... hopelessly impossible situation of love...." he added.

How in the world this lightening strike snuck up on us I am still not quite sure. As I have said to you before I certainly had a special feeling about you from the first time we met, but these feelings were contained and I genuinely enjoyed our special friendship and the comparing of all too many personal notes ..."

Earlier, "Maria" -- whose full name has not yet been released -- also proclaimed her devotion in a July 9 e-mail.

"You are my love ... something hard to believe even for myself as it's also a kind of impossible love, not only because of distance but situation," she wrote. "Sometimes you don't choose things, they just happen ... I can't redirect my feelings and I am very happy with mine towards you."

Sandford was a potential presidential candidate for 2012 election year, now the the affair has become public, his eligibility is in question.

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