Sanford used much of the speech to tout legislative achievements and reiterate themes that have been the hallmark of his first term: Streamlining and slowing the rate of growth of state government; offering more choices in education; improving the business climate and meeting the challenges of a changing global economy.

But Sanford's decision to address broad themes rather than the nitty-gritty of new proposals may have been an attempt to allow room to maneuver in an election year. In years past, the governor has used the occasion of the State of the State speech to outline specific programs and bills only to see them ignored by lawmakers. One notable example was his plan to gradually phase out the state's income tax, which never was taken up in the Legislature.

While Sanford did touch on specific legislation on the agenda this session, he again hewed to the broader approach. Regarding the proposal to swap higher sales taxes for the elimination of most property taxes, Sanford said, essentially, that the plan was worth considering but that he would veto it if it resulted in higher taxes.

Also, there was no mention in the speech of Sanford's budget proposal to give every taxpayer a $75 rebate this year.

Regarding the court mandate to raise funding for early childhood education in the state's poorest school districts, Sanford said merely that the state should "take a complete inventory of what, where and how we spend money in early childhood education." He spoke of directing finite resources to where they could do the most good and tapping the private sector, but did not directly address the judge's ruling.

Sanford also said that the state should increase the number of black judges in the state, but offered no specific proposals for accomplishing that.

In the area of higher education, where he did offer a specific proposal, it undoubtedly was not one welcomed by university officials. Sanford repeated his call for placing a cap on tuition increases at $250 above the Higher Education Price Index. Tying tuition increases to higher education inflation will, he said, "unleash a lot of creative effort in ending inefficiency and duplication in our system."

University administrators, including Winthrop President Anthony DiGiorgio, have argued that the increase in tuition has been necessary to offset the lack of funding by the state. Tuition caps, they say, would merely further handcuff universities in trying to meet students' needs.

More welcome were Sanford's repeated calls to increase funding for more state troopers and his program to devote $10 million to timberland acquisition.

To some extent, Sanford's reliance on generalities may be a result of learning from lost battles and criticism from lawmakers that he is unwilling to work with them to craft new legislation. It also, no doubt, is a nod to his upcoming re-election campaign, where he faces both Republican and Democratic challengers. He does not want to be tied to a specific program that might prove unpopular down the road.

But he also has left himself open to charges that he still is unwilling to choose a few legislative priorities and expend his political capital to get them passed. In the past, he offered a grab-bag of utopian ideas; this year, he chose to steer clear of specific proposals that had not already been widely endorsed.

Whether that helps him politically or again renders him largely irrelevant to the legislative process will become more clear in the days ahead.