The Limits of 60 Votes

For all the attention paid to the concessions made to hold the Democratic defections down to 44, few noticed that if Obama had not been helped by eight Republicans, his margin might have been wiped out. Those eight who defied their own leadership are among the few surviving GOP moderates, and, with their Senate counterparts, they will be crucial again on health care.

To ignore them would be really dumb.

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The saga of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and his Argentine romance has been such ripe fodder for the gossip mills that the essential governmental question has almost been forgotten.

Whether Sanford can resolve the mess he has made of his personal life is of little concern to anyone but the people involved.

But when he disappeared for five days, telling no one in his administration or even his security detail where he had gone, he did something totally irresponsible. Had any kind of emergency occurred, South Carolina would have been leaderless.

At the moment Sanford abandoned his duties in secret pursuit of private pleasure, he in effect tendered his resignation.

The Legislature should insist he follow through on it.

davidbroder@washpost.com