The best of the Mark Sanford saga

In the age of Twitter, a political scandal can rise and fall in the course of just one hour. And that’s about as much time Twitterers gave this afternoon’s flap about the disappearance of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R).

Earlier this afternoon, The State newspaper (S.C.) reported that Gov. Sanford went missing on Thursday and could not be located by his aides or security staff. Strange details began to emerge about his potential whereabouts. For example, the paper reported that an Atlanta area cell phone tower picked up a signal from his phone and that he often likes to travel without his security detial.

Shortly afterwards, ABC’s Rick Klein tweeted about The State’s story and started an hour-long tweeting frenzy about Sanford that lasted approximately between 3:30 and 4:30 pm.

Klein tweeted that:

re Sanford – is there some kind of weird contest afoot for GOPers to hurt their own 2012 chances?

His joke help touch off a spate of activity on Twitter, much of it centered around Daily Kos writers and followers.

Dana Houle, a Daily Kos blogger continued the jabs. He tweeted:

If nobody notices Sanford missing for 4 days, why do they still need him to be governor?

Markos Moulitsas also retweeted a theory that Sanford has “finally seceded.”

Conservatives on Twitter got into the act as well. The Washington Times’ Amanda Carpenter joked:

Sanford is missing. Warms my heart. We’d all be better off if politicians would get lost more often.

But she quickly replied:

That said, of course I hope he’s okay, etc, etc.

The sarcasm quickly turned to mock conspiracy theories. The Weekly Standard’s Michael Goldfarb tweeted:

Speculation on Sanford’s disappearance: “Mental meltdown, Betty Ford or secret mission to kill Osama Bin Laden.

Soon after, ABC’s Jake Tapper attempted to throw some water on the inferno. He about tweeted a new report:

State newspaper (SC) reporting that Lt. Gov told that Gov Sanford has been reached and is fine and that Sanford