Take your pick of the headlines from three of the largest papers in the country:

Sanford Case a New Dose of Bad News for Republicans - Jim Rutenberg, NY Times
For Republicans, a Long Winter Gets Longer - Dan Balz, Washington Post
Gov. Sanford disclosure deepens Republican turmoil - Mark Z. Barabak, LA Times

Even Politico succumbs to Beltway groupthink with this:

Sanford saga adds to GOP woes - Jonathan Martin, Politico

The fundamental truth underlying these stories is obvious: it's never a "helpful" thing for a party when someone who is considered one of its potential stars admits to committing adultery, let alone two of them in a month.

The other things these articles have in common, however, is the overblown notion that Mark Sanford's rather spectacular public flameout somehow hurts the GOP's reputation or affects its electoral prospects next year or beyond.

There's no question it hurt Mark Sanford's reputation and demolished his political prospects, but beyond that it is simply a sensational story about a Republican politician that won't last very long.

Unlike the Mark Foley scandal that broke directly in advance of the 2006 elections, the 2010 midterms are  sixteen months away and Republicans are in the minority. The Sanford story it will be long gone by the time voters begin casting ballots, and unless we see more high profile Republicans come out and admit affairs which takes the issue to a tipping point, those ballots next November will render  judgment on the state of the economy and the success or failure of the people who are in charge of running the government.