Something else to consider is it's South Carolina. If you've ever visited or lived there, it's an extremely conservative and religious area. They take, IMHO, issues of morality in general in a much more harsh light there.
It's an unfortunate reality of modern politics, but being unmarried or divorced and trying to stay in office or gain office is nearly impossible. In fact, one of the most terrifying scenarios for this country would be to have a newly single male President who had his wife die right after he was reelected.
If you want a career in modern politics, you can't get a divorce. You can have a sham of a marriage but you can't get a legal split until it's politically viable to do so.
From a moral standpoint, I think the guy was wrong. What's the saying, it takes a whole lifetime to build a good reputation and mere seconds to tarnish it.
From a practical standpoint, I think the guy got caught. Sloppy or unlucky, either is a bad choice in my book. Being stupid enough to get caught is probably a far worse indictment as a leader in my book than the cheating part. Or he was blackmailed and run through the wringer by those who didn't want him to run in 2012, who knows. Unlucky or stupid or careless or unable to defend himself politically. All the same bad signs to me.
His mistake, IMHO, assuming the story was accurate, was trying to get laid for free. At some point, at some level of power and wealth, I think it's just more sense to pay for it. Sex is free, you are paying for the silence afterwards. Show me a wealthy guy who gets caught in some mess about sex and I'll show you a guy who wasn't smart enough to just hire a deaf mute blind hooker no one else knew about or used.
Gekko