It's looking more and more like Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) will be able to ride out this whole scandal, now that media coverage has moved on to other topics like Sarah Palin and Michael Jackson, and serve out the remaining year and a half of his term without having to resign.

Yesterday evening, the South Carolina Republican Party's executive committee voted to censure Sanford for his moral transgressions -- defeating those on the committee who had wanted to call for his resignation.

Sanford's communications director Joel Sawyer put out a brief statement today, responding to the party's censure: "The governor fully appreciates the party's position, and he intends to work diligently to earn back its trust."

Glenn McCall, a non-voting committee member, told the New York Times how his position against Sanford was beaten by the others: "the argument that I made that the governor has lost credibility to lead and moral authority and will impact the party in 2010, and the other side that felt that he's done great things for the state, made a mistake and should be reprimanded."

So on the one side we have a party that has settled on a moral reprimand, and a governor who has accepted the reprimand and pledged himself to earning back their trust. Unless some other shoe drops (and how many could possibly be left?), then this is probably over.