When it comes to the adultery scandals involving two prominent Republicans, mum's the word for Virginia's usually voluble gubernatorial candidates.
Neither Democrat R. Creigh Deeds nor Republican Bob McDonnell had much to say about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's tearful, televised admission yesterday of infidelity, which came only days after Sen. John Ensign of Nevada said he'd had an affair with a former staff member.
"They may be a senator and a governor, but at the end of the day these men are husbands and fathers first," said McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin. "They are real people, in real families.
"They made mistakes and your heart has to go out to all those hurt by these tragic situations. This really isn't about politics. It's about people making mistakes and all the pain that is the result. Both situations are incredibly sad."
Jared Leopold, Deeds' press secretary, said, "We will leave this personal issue to the Sanford family and the people of South Carolina."
He added, "This is a personal issue for Senator Ensign and his family."
Through a spokesperson, Governor Timothy M. Kaine declined to comment yesterday on the Sanford developments.
On Tuesday, when Kaine took part in an online chat at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sanford was reported to have been off hiking on the Appalachian Trail. That's what Sanford had told his staff -- though it turns out that he was in Argentina with the woman with whom he had an affair.
"Anybody that hikes on the Appalachian Trail, I'm all for them," Kaine said at the time.
Kaine said he and his kids hit the trail -- it runs through Virginia -- every spring, but Kaine said he never goes without a security detail.
"You take a security detail with you not primarily to protect you," Kaine said. "You take them with you so you can always be in communication if you have to make a decision."
Kaine is acquainted with Sanford through his work as chairman of the Southern Governors' Association.
In March 2008, Kaine said he was stunned by the prostitution scandal that led to the fall of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a fellow Democrat.
"It's really mystifying how people in public life get into situations that are just so obviously vulnerable," Kaine said of Spitzer.
"People in public life are like everyone else -- they're people. They're going to have the same flaws as everybody," he added.
"It's just that when you're so much in the public eye, and you know that the level of scrutiny is so intense . . . you know, there's something very reckless about that, that's hard to fathom."
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or jschapiro@timesdispatch.com.
Politics editor Andrew Cain and staff writer Jim Nolan contributed to this report.
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