My theory: Mrs. Sanford sent the emails to The State!

[K8-EEE]

Sure he has political enemies -- but I doubt that they would have access to his personal email accounts.

The Mrs. looks completely (understandably) FURIOUS and it's kinda scary how she's going on with these Bible verses through the clenched teeth. And she's a "top aid" with access to his files.

So here's how it went down: She gets suspicious, he, being a lying POS who doesn't admit anything til confronted with physical evidence, is busted. Since then they've had an arrangement where she plays the smiling GOP Stepford wife but they in fact are living separate lives.

Around Christmas she's feeling particularly neglected and victimized by the situation, she calls up the emails, sends them to The State, and waits for all hell to break loose.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

I have to say Mark Sanford's Livin' La Vida Loca has been the best political soap opera to come along for a long time.

[leftstreet]

1. So these emails have been available since December?

That's odd.

[K8-EEE]

4. They didn't do anything with them because they couldn't verify them

Then when he pulled this stunt one of the reporters went to case the flights coming in from B.A., in case there was something to the emails.

[K8-EEE]

9. Isn't that about the same amount of time they've been "working on the marriage?"

Cuz that's when she FOUND THE EMAILS!

[Missy Vixen]

2. Oh, she'll get the last laugh

These guys (and I'm lumping Edwards in this category,) are stone-cold stupid. The best revenge is a dish served cold, and both Mrs. Sanford and Mrs. Edwards have ensured that their husbands are politically radioactive, probably for the rest of their lives.

I'd also like to mention that narcissism is a funny thing. After all, the sweet, long-suffering "little woman" would never actually set the trap, would she? I have to hand it to both of them: They hit where it hurt. They didn't bother with the money. They removed the thing these guys live for: The adulation.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I think you are right, but will add

she sent the emails to the paper anonymously. They were sitting on them because there was no other evidence they could sink their teeth into. If Sanford had gotten back on the straight and narrow, nothing would have been done about the emails. But when she realized where he was going, the paper was tipped off to look for Sanford at the airport--and the rest is history.

[K8-EEE]

5. Yes, the "State" reporter said they were sent anonymously

And because they couldn't verify them they didn't publish them until this new stunt sort of confirmed there was something up in B.A.

[K8-EEE]

6. Mrs. S. looks quite capable of "mistaking him for a burglar"

If you know what I mean.....or for a bird, Dick Cheney style.

[lindisfarne]

7. Don't defend her too much. She managed his campaigns and stood beside him while he smeared other

people. I'm not too sympathetic to her. (And I, too, had the idea the OP put forward in the back of my head as a likely possibility)

[K8-EEE]

8. Oh jeez I can't stand her type!

HATE the passive-aggressive Bible-verse-through-clenched-teeth thing and enough of hiding behind "my children" as an excuse for her own lying. Remember, she said he "needed time away from the kids" to write something when they were in fact separated. "Get away from the kids?" Hello, on FATHER'S DAY? Besides, they live in a mansion!