Ex-S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford to join Fox News

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is joining Fox News as a political commentator through the 2012 presidential elections, The Associated Press reports.

Fox News Channel spokeswoman Caitlin Frost confirmed yesterday that the two-term Republican governor has been hired as a contributor. She declined to say when he would start.

Sanford was a rising political star before he vanished from the state in 2009, and reporters were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. When he reappeared, the father of four admitted being in Argentina with a woman he later called his soul mate.

The international affair destroyed his marriage, which ended in divorce, and derailed his political career, which had included talk of presidential aspirations.