Despite controversy, promotion for Mark Sanford’s book on schedule

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s (R) book contract went up in smoke after news of his extramarital affair made international headlines. But according to recently released promotional materials, Sanford is still locked into the book’s marketing strategy.

ITK this week received Sentinel Press’s Winter 2010 catalog. Splashed across pages 80 and 81 are promotional paragraphs and a photo for Sanford’s book Within Our Means, which Sentinel describes as “a conservative manifesto from one of the Republican Party’s rising stars.”

At the time of the original contract, the book was viewed by many as a political “springboard,” designed to help position Sanford for a 2012 presidential run. It would have been Sanford’s second book; his first was published in 2000 and titled, interestingly, The Trust Committed to Me.

Reached for comment, a Sentinel rep said the company had, “through mutual agreement, canceled plans for a book after the governor’s scandal broke.” She also confirmed that an advance was never paid, so there were no financial implications to the contract. She did not detail why the book is being promoted in the winter catalog.

The governor isn’t the only member of the Sanford family whose book appears in publishers’ catalogs: Following the monthlong scandal, his estranged wife, Jenny, signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Ballantine Books for a memoir scheduled for May of 2010.

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