What happens to political mistresses?

Rep. Vance McAllister, shown here as he awaits to be sworn in to the House last fall, asked for forgiveness from God, his family and his constituents after a newspaper published what it said was surveillance video showing the married Louisiana Republican making out with a female staffer. Click through the images for some other politicians behaving badly.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford addresses members of the media outside his office in Toronto, on November 7, after the release of a video showing Ford in a rage. Ford has admitted smoking crack cocaine.

Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois, and his wife, Sandra, arrive at federal court in Washington on August 14, 2013, for sentencing. Jackson was sentenced to 30 months in prison for improper use of campaign funds, while his wife got 12 months for filing false tax returns.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2012 after being convicted of 18 criminal counts, including trying to sell the appointment to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama's election as president.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, leaves the Travis County Jail in Austin, Texas, after being sentenced to three years in prison, with probation in 2011, for money laundering and conspiracy.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, was convicted in 2007 of obstructing a federal investigation into who revealed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000, but former President George W. Bush commuted his sentence.

Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2009 after being convicted of 11 counts of corruption related to using his office to solicit bribes. He was also ordered to forfeit $470,000.

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2007 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud and making false statements to investigators.

U.S. Rep. James Traficant Jr., D-Ohio, spent seven years in prison after being convicted of bribery and corruption and tax evasion charges in 2002.

Former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-California, was sentenced in 2006 to eight years in prison after he was convicted of collecting $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antique furnishings and other bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress.

The late Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Illinois, lost his seat in the Republican landslide of 1994 amid corruption charges. He served a year in prison after his 1996 conviction, then was pardoned by President Bill Clinton. He died in August 2010.

• In infidelity scandals, the woman's life often doesn't turn out as well as the politician's


• Vance McAllister's mistress is no longer working for the congressman


• McAllister says he plans to remain in public life after scandal emerged

Washington (CNN) -- Rep. Vance McAllister, R-Louisiana, now known as the "Kissing Congressman" after the married father of five was caught on surveillance tape making out with a staffer who is also married, says his affair, despite his Christian conservative political platform, will not sideline his new political career.

He said he will run for reelection unless "an outcry" of opposition persuades him not to.

The fate of cheating politicians is a mixed bag. Some survive and some don't. Bill Clinton survived. Anthony Weiner and numerous other members of Congress did not, forced to resign or not seek reelection.

But this story isn't about them. It's about the women who are the other half of politicians' extramarital affairs. And in many instances, when high-profile politicians cheat, their mistresses have a harder time recovering.

Husband: Congressman 'wrecked my life'

Congressman caught kissing staffer

Mark Sanford wins a second chance

Petraeus out over extramarital affair

Here's a look at where some of them are now:

Melissa Hixon Peacock: The latest "other woman" in a political affair is the staffer caught kissing McAllister. While McAllister maintains he will finish out his term, Peacock no longer has her job as his district scheduler. Her husband, Heath Peacock, told CNN that McAllister "wrecked his life" and marriage.

Monica Lewinsky: She might be the most famous political mistress. Since her affair with Clinton, Lewinsky is attempting to live a normal life, her former publicist told CNN recently. Years later, Lewinsky is still "trying" to live a normal life. After a brief stint in the spotlight after Clinton's impeachment, the former White House intern has lived in relative obscurity.

Rielle Hunter: One-time vice presidential nominee John Edwards has moved on since his 2008 affair with Hunter broke up his marriage, sunk his presidential campaign and bore a child. He recently started practicing law again. Hunter, on the other hand, has not had the same good fortune. She recently released an updated version of the book about the affair in which she apologizes for her behavior -- that included writing a book that "hurt more people."

Cynthia Hampton: She was involved with former Nevada Sen. John Ensign. Both Cynthia and her husband, Doug, worked for Ensign. After he fired them in 2008, while the affair was going on, he paid them nearly $100,000 and found lobbying work for Doug Hampton.

Ensign resigned from his Senate post three weeks before an ethics report was to be released and has gone back to his life as a veterinarian in Las Vegas, where he said he has been "humbled."

"I used to own this practice, now I'm working for somebody. That's sometimes a very healthy thing to happen in life," Ensign told CNN's Dana Bash last year.

As for Hampton, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported in 2011 that she filed for bankruptcy, left Las Vegas and moved to California to work for a Christian organization.

But not all affairs end badly for the woman involved:

Maria Belen Chapur: She is the Argentinian woman with whom former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was with when he disappeared for four days in 2011.

Sanford and his wife split but his political career recovered. He won election to his former House seat in 2012. And his mistress is no longer his mistress but his fiance. She spends some time in Argentina still and is a columnist for a news website in Argentina. Her last entry was from December.

The ups and downs of a political sex scandal