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Wednesday, Jun 24, 2009 10:05 PM UTC

E-mails between Sanford, girlfriend revealed

South Carolina newspaper obtains e-mails from the governor to the Argentine woman with whom he was having an affair

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Topics: Mark Sanford, War Room,

The State, a South Carolina newspaper, has just printed excerpts from e-mails between Gov. Mark Sanford and the Argentine woman with whom he was having an affair, for now identified only as “Maria.” The paper has promised to print the full e-mail exchange in its Thursday edition, and reports that Sanford’s office is not denying that they’re authentic.

One very interesting detail from The State’s coverage of the e-mails: The paper says it obtained the material in December, long before the governor’s disappearance made the news this week.

An excerpt of one e-mail from Sanford to Maria, as published by The State:

One, tomorrow leave at 5 a.m. for New York and meetings. Will think about you on its streets and wish I was going to be there later in the month when you are there. Tomorrow night back to Philadelphia for the start of the National Governor’s Conference through the weekend. Back to Columbia for Tuesday and then on Wednesday, as I think I had told you, taking the family to China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Thailand and then back through Hong Kong on world wind tour. Few days home then to Bahamas for 5 days on a friend’s boat for the last break of the summer. The following weekend have been asked to spend it out in Aspen, Colorado with McCain – which has kicked up the whole VP talk all over again in the press back home …

Two, mutual feelings …. You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. 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 …

Three and finally, while all the things above are all too true – at the same time we are in a hopelessly – or as you put it impossible – or how about combine and simply say hopelessly impossible situation of love. 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 …

Lastly I also suspect I feel a little vulnerable because this is ground I have never certainly never covered before – so if you have pearls of wisdom on how we figure all this out please let me know… In the meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

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