Such was the question posed in the Wall Street Journal, …Politician's sin goes beyond the affair.

Surprisingly, the answer is probably not. With the proliferation of elected officials, ahem, having dalliances, it appears that the electorate is prepared to "forgive the sin of adultery."

However, says the article, what the electorate is not prepared to forgive "is hypocrisy and the abuse of the office in pursuit of the sexual escapade."

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is guilty on both counts. Talking openly about values, voting to impeach then President Clinton, he has scored fairly high on the hypocrisy scale. He seems to be off the charts in the "abuse of the office" category, having conducted his affair in a state vehicle, allowed for deceit as to his whereabouts, did not inform his own lieutenant governor where he was to be found in case of an emergency. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

He's not alone in this hypocrisy and abuse of the office column. Eliot Spitzer, crossed state lines to indulge his fancy, Sen. Larry Craig played footsie in Minneapolis, Sen. John Edwards, the consummate family man, erred on the campaign trail.

So, if the abuse of office and hypocrisy supersede the abuse of a marriage that explains, perhaps, why Bill Clinton has not been lumped with this other group. They couldn't pin an abuse of power on him, nor did they hold him up as a hypocrite since he wasn't "exactly a family-value icon."

Indeed, he didn't have to leave his office, didn't use taxpayer money, he just stood up and aahed.