After months of being a late-nigh laughingstock thanks to Rod Blagojevich, Mark Sanford may finally get Illinois off the hook as having the goofiest governor in America.

You may have read in recent days that no one — not even his wife — knew where Sanford, the South Carolina governor, was for several days. He pulled a Dick Cheney and just disappeared to a secret, undisclosed location.

Then his staff told media outlets earlier this week that Sanford was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Except that The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., is now reporting that Sanford was in Argentina during a dayslong unexplained absence.

Argentina. Appalachian Trail. I get those mixed up all the time, too.

Sanford told the newspaper he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country. He said he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail but wanted to do something “exotic.” So he said he flew to Argentina and drove along the coastline — which reportedly is about two miles long near Buenos Aires.

Turns out the Guv wasn’t acting strange. He was just cheating on his wife. On Father’s Day weekend, no less. Fighting back the obligatory tears, Sanford admitted during a press conference this afternoon that he’s been having an affair with a women from Argentina for the past year. He said his wife and family (which includes four children) have known about it for five months.

Sanford, a Republican, had expressed an interest in running for president in 2012. Of course, there was a time Blagojevich fancied himself as a national candidate, too.