Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor’s Mansion without a security escort, 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security, 39 times.

Those trips are about one-third of the 195 trips Sanford made from the mansion, with or without security, over that 18-month period.

At this point the only thing keeping Sanford in his job is the politicking of local Republicans, who are not ready to push power into the hands of ambitious Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.