The Hill's Reid Wilson, a former RCP-er, profiles Jenny Sanford -- backseat driver for the political career of her husband, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford:

The first lady has been intimately involved in her husband's political career and has served as his closest adviser, according to sources close to Sanford. She's acted as a fiercely loyal enforcer, sounding board and crisis manager, they said.

So Jenny Sanford's seeming nonchalance about her husband's itinerary over Father's Day weekend and subsequent comments that indicated she cared little about her husband's political future "lent credence to rumors that no one wanted to believe," said one South Carolina Republican operative who asked not to be named.

With calls for his resignation mounting, Sanford may have been fatally wounded by the absence of the person who has served as his most trusted and, by many accounts, most valuable adviser throughout his career, South Carolina political watchers now say.

And now, the first lady has little incentive to make a quick return to her husband's side.