scratch that 3 am test

remember the "3 a.m. test?"

it’s 3 am and your children are safe and asleep but there’s a phone in the white house and it’s ringing something’s happening in the world your vote will decide who answers that call ...

well, the phone in the south carolina governor's mansion has been ringing for four-going-on-five straight days now, including father's day weekend.

if the 3 a.m. test wasn't just campaign rhetoric — and it looks like still-awol mark sanford's proving it wasn't — i guess it's safe to add him to the weekly growing list of aborted republican 2012 presidential hopefuls:

the office of the lieutenant governor, andre bauer, is now telling reporters that the governor's office says it's reached sanford and that he's fine. (bauer would take over the governor's duties in an emergency.) but here's the thing: the governor's staff himself doesn't seem willing to confirm that directly to the press. ... in neither of these statements is sanford's office saying that they've been in touch with him. indeed, the clear implication is that they haven't been, or presumably they'd say they have. in fact, it's unclear how closely the office even knows the guv's whereabouts. if it did, why the need to track his cellphone location? and if he told his office, why didn't he tell his wife?