If you're a Republican governor whose standoff with his own legislature over accepting stimulus funds had been the subject of major national news coverage, you're among the four or five people considered likely contenders to be your party's presidential standard bearer and you've got a lot of people, from both parties, in your own state who'd like to knock you off your pedestal, then just how smart is it to wander off for five days and not tell your wife where you're going?

That's the situation Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, finds himself in — and we haven't heard the last of it.

Here's the story we ran today, from McClatchy's The State. The salient facts:

_ The governor drove off in a state vehicle last Thursday and dropped from sight.

_ His cell phone was tracked to a location near Atlanta.

_ His wife tells the AP she's not worried, he's gone off to do some writing away from the kids. On Father's Day.

_ His staff finally says he's off on the Appalachian Trail, hiking.

Obviously, there are some inconsistencies here that raise some questions: Why, for example, was it necessary to "track" the governor's cell phone if his staff knew where he was.

Now comes this story from WYFF-TV in Greensboro, S.C. Here're its top points:

_ That state vehicle was tracked not to the Appalachian Trail, but the Atlanta airport.

_ A federal "agent," otherwise not further identified, saw Sanford board a plane there.

There may be a perfectly logical explanation: Maybe Sanford, startled, as his staff says, by the hubub his unannounced vacation created, simply drove to the airport to catch a flight home so he could be in the office on Wednesday. Someone can retrieve the state vehicle later.

Or there's more. Which seems more likely.