The House unanimously adopted a resolution on Monday commemorating the anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, meaning there was one less no vote than when the law was reauthorized in 2000.

That's because South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is no longer in the House. In 2000, his was one of three GOP votes against a stand-alone extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Ten days later, he cast the sole vote against a bill to curb sex trafficking that included the extension.

A Capitol Hill townhouse that serves as a dormitory and meeting place for a band of conservative Christian lawmakers has been linked to a third episode of marital infidelity, this time in a Mississippi court filing by a former lawmaker's estranged wife.

In an "alienation of affection" lawsuit, former Rep. Charles W. Pickering Jr.'s estranged wife, Leisha, alleges that he carried on an extramarital affair with a onetime college sweetheart while he lived at a house at 133 C Street in Southeast Washington. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., both of whom admitted to cheating on their wives in recent weeks, are members of the Christian fellowship of lawmakers known as "C Street" for the address of the house where several of the members live at any given time.

Pickering Complaint

Leisha Pickering alleges that some of the "wrongful conduct" on the part of the woman accused of breaking up the Pickering marriage "occurred and accrued" in Washington, D.C., "at the C Street Complex."

Obviously, Buenos Aires isn't the best place to be if you want to run South Carolina. But for the crowded field of 2010 gubernatorial hopefuls, it's looking more and more like South Carolina isn't the best place to be, either.

That could boost the fortunes of Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, who publicly has avoided the palace intrigue in Columbia in the wake of Gov. Mark Sanford confessing that he had an affair with an Argentinian woman.

"If you exist, you're getting dirt on you. It's filthy. There is so much destruction. At the end of the day it will be the last man standing," said a South Carolina Republican strategist who has not taken sides in the 2010 gubernatorial race. "So maybe Gresham Barrett is the winner."

The timing could be better for Repbulicans eager to keep driving home the idea that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine's dual-hatting as Democratic National Committee chairman has cost Virginia voters Kaine's time and their money.

With the next gubernatorial election less than five months away, the RNC's research department circulated a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial to Republicans Thursday morning that chastised Kaine. He won't be on the ballot, but he's popular -- and pointing out the incumbent's flaws might make him a less effective advocate from Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds in his race against Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

On any normal day, that wouldn't raise eyebrows.

The morning after South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted to indulging in a foreign affair, the story dominated the nation's newspapers. No surprise there.

The best and most comprehensive coverage is in South Carolina's The State, which is producing big-time-award-quality reporting on every angle of one of the Palmetto State's more intriguing political stories since the firing on Fort Sumter.

For those who want all the salacious details, the paper published a long chain of e-mails between Sanford and his paramour. It's heart-wrenching stuff.

When it looked like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's long, strange trip to Argentina might simply have been an erratic response to a tense legislative session, fellow politicians were happy to joke about his weeklong disappearance from public view and staff contact.

But Sanford's admission of an extramarital affair changed that in some corners.

"Now, I see that it's not humorous at all, and I'm feeling Mark's humiliation. Certainly, I don't want to add to that humiliation," said Rep. Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican who had kidded earlier in the day about what he thought was a bout of "quirkiness" from Sanford.

"Mark spoke of moral absolutes. The truth is that none of us is capable of fully living the truths that we proclaim, so each of us is dependent on grace," Inglis said. "I haven't always agreed with Mark's policies or politics, but today I want more than ever to be his friend."

In a sign of that sentiment, Inglis declined to call for Sanford's resignation and suggested a little humility might improve Sanford's rocky relationship with the Republican-controlled legislature.

"He may be less than a 100 percenter," Inglis said.

The odd tale of the missing South Carolina governor has been on the tips of wagging tongues across Capitol Hill today, as politicians try to figure out why Republican Mark Sanford returned from Buenos Aires, Argentina, when his staff initially said he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

"Argentina, Appalachian Trail, they both start with 'A,'" joked Rep. Bob Inglis, a South Carolina Republican who could hardly contain his amusement at the situation.

"It's best for the governor's staff to know where he is and how to contact him," he said on a more serious note.