Sanford’s Father’s Day tradition (sort of)

Hey, it must be the month for Father’s Day because Mark Sanford has disappeared!

Just like clockwork, the South Carolina governor has vanished again.

Is he “hiking the Appalachian Trail” as he did last year?

We don’t know. We just know that the governor, who left South Carolina without a trace at this time a year go to meet up with his Argentinean “soul mate,” sneaked out of his office again without telling Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer.

The lieutenant governor, of course, is the one who would take over the affairs of the state when the governor isn’t there.

Just like last year, the governor’s staff has some ‘splaining to do.

Sanford’s new flak (the old one bailed shortly after the PR fiasco) told the Associated Press that Sanford spent Father’s Day with his sons this year (a unique twist). And Monday, he had a case of the Mondays and took the day off.

By the way, “sneaking out” without telling the lieutenant governor is allowable in the Palmetto State. Although Sanford created a major media maelstrom last year because he went to Argentina instead of going to the Appalachian Trail as his office reported, he wasn’t (and isn’t) required to let anyone know.

That’ll change if some in the state Legislature get their way.

South Carolina’s the State newspaper reports that a “bill requiring the governor to notify the lieutenant governor every time he leaves the state is currently stuck in a legislative conference committee.”

And for those of you more interested in the seamier side of politics rather than boring legislative proceedings (not us), Sanford is still carrying on with his Argentinean friend, Maria Belen Chapur. The State reports that the two had a romantic getaway in Florida last month.

Crist and Obama diverge in polls

Remember a year ago when Florida’s 44th Gov. Charlie Crist, then claiming to be a Republican, got a big friendly political hug from Democrat Barack Obama, the 44th president who was then claiming to be stimulating the economy with $787 billion of someone else’s money?

That onstage gesture, viewed as practically traitorous by conservative Sunshine State Republicans, helped rocket former GOP state House speaker and “tea party” favorite Marco Rubio to the front of the state’s Senate primary race.

Which helped Crist suddenly realize that he was really an independent at heart.

Now, the disastrous gulf oil spill has thrust Crist and Obama, an unlikely pair of former state senators, together again. Despite Crist’s beach patrols, four Obama visits, an underwhelming Oval Office address and numerous rounds of presidential golf, the prehistoric goo is still surging uncontrolled into the country’s Southern coastal waters.

As a result, a new CBS News poll finds that most Americans believe Obama reacted too slowly to the catastrophe (61%) and has no clear plan to deal with it (59% nationwide, 64% in the gulf area).

Forty-five percent say Obama has no clear plan for developing new energy sources, and 54% still say he has no clear plan for developing new jobs, 16 months after he signed his own massive jobs plan and numerous expensive sales trips to sell its benefits.

Since January, those Americans who say Obama has strong leadership qualities has shrunk to 62%, from 70%, according to the CBS survey.

This time Crist is moving in the opposite direction from Obama. The state’s party primaries are not until August, but early this month Rasmussen Reports found Crist and Rubio tied at 37% in a general election matchup, with Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, the likely Democratic candidate, trailing meekly at 15%.

However, just out last week was a new Florida Chamber of Commerce poll showing Crist has surged to 42%, Rubio faded to 31% and Meek still trailing at 14%.

One reason: Crist, like Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, has benefited from the local leadership opportunities presented by the spill. Obama hasn’t. Another reason: Unlike most Floridians, Rubio still favors offshore drilling. Flip-flop, baby, flip-flop.

Now, here’s the autumn question for the White House: If polls still show Crist leading, do they back him even tacitly as an independent, likely winner and potential Senate ally a la Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and then let the under-performing Meek swing in the wind, despite his official D party label?

andrew.malcolm@latimes.com

Orr writes for The Times.

Top of the Ticket, The Times’ blog on national politics (www.latimes.com/ticket), is a blend of commentary, analysis and news. These are selections from the last week.