Sentinel Cancels Mark Sanford's Book On Fiscal Conservatism

As promised, the folks at Sentinel, the conservative imprint of Penguin, have come to a decision about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's book on fiscal conservatism. According to a statement sent out just now by associate publisher Will Weisser, Sentinel has "agreed to release" Governor Sanford from his contract in light of the scandal that brought his promising political career in the Republican party to an end last week. The brief statement called it a "mutual decision."

Yesterday afternoon, an item on the CNN Political Ticker speculated that Sentinel would rejigger Mr. Sanford's book—originally titled Within Our Means and planned for a spring 2010 publication—and have him write a tell-all about the scandal instead. Mr. Weisser fanned the flames by telling the CNN reporter that a decision had not been reached and that the result "could be anything."

Evidently they elected to go with "nothing" instead. Now the question is whether Mr. Sanford's manuscript—which had to have been pretty far along if not totally done—will surface anywhere else. Someone get Michael Viner on the phone!