By Kathy Deveny
When Gov. Mark Sanford stood in the rotunda of the South Carolina Statehouse on Wednesday (far left) and admitted in a weepy, rambling apology that he had been having an affair with a woman in Argentina, his wife, Jenny, 46, was nowhere to be seen. Jenny (left) was 100 miles away at the family’s beachfront home in Sullivan’s Island with her four sons. She later released a statement saying that she still loves her husband and would consider reconciliation, but that she had thrown him out of the house weeks ago. Her reaction may make her part of an elite club no woman wants to join: scorned political wives who turn their pain to their own advantage. Women like Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Edwards and Donna Hanover have all suffered public humiliation, but in the end may have shown better political skills than their cheating spouses. Not all wronged political wives have managed as well.
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