Embattled South Carolina governor vows to finish term

MIAMI (Reuters) - Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, a conservative once seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, rejected a call from his deputy to resign Wednesday in the wake of a sex scandal.

Sanford, who is married, has been fighting political pressure to quit since admitting in June he had an affair with an Argentine businesswoman. He has repeatedly vowed to serve out the remaining 16 months of his term.

"I'm not going to be railroaded out of this office by political opponents or people who were not fans of mine in the first place," Sanford told a news conference in the South Carolina capital Columbia.

Earlier Wednesday, South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, also a Republican, said in a letter that he did not believe the governor could serve "the best interests of the people."

"The serious misconduct, which has already been revealed, along with lingering questions and continuing distractions, make it virtually impossible for our state to solve the serious problems we are facing without a change of leadership," Bauer wrote.

South Carolina's unemployment rate is nearly 12 percent, one of the highest in the country.

In a written reply, Sanford said he was determined to stay on to tackle the state's economic problems, although he admitted that it would be easier to quit and move on with his life.

Sanford seemed to wreck his political ambitions in a tearful June 24 news conference when he admitted to the affair, ending days of speculation over his whereabouts.

When he disappeared a week earlier, his staff first said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but it later emerged he had flown to Argentina to visit his lover, whom he described as his soul mate.

The admissions prompted calls for his resignation and an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division over whether he had misused public funds for trips to Argentina. He was cleared.

Sanford's wife, Jenny, and their four sons moved out of the governor's residence this month.

Sanford was a prominent opponent of Democratic President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill and rejected $700 million of South Carolina's portion of the funds on grounds it would undermine the state's fiscal stability.

He was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans, and the state Supreme Court later overruled his opposition.

(Reporting by Pascal Fletcher, writing by Jim Loney; editing by Paul Simao)