COLUMBIA, S.C. - Gov. Mark Sanford's re-election, which made him the first governor to earn a second term since the late Gov. Carroll Campbell left office in 1995 - was voted the top news story of 2006 in South Carolina by Associated Press members across the state.

Sanford has built a reputation as unyielding and unwilling to engage in the backslapping and glad-handing that often gets legislation passed, while his Democratic opponent was often seen as the Legislature's go-to-guy for dealmaking.

Those who opposed Sanford's run for a second term in office tried to exploit the rifts the governor created among fellow Republicans. But in the end, Sanford was returned to office with 55 percent of the vote, compared with state Sen. Tommy Moore's 45 percent.

"This is an incredible mandate for staying the course of change for South Carolina," Sanford said after winning.

While politics topped the list, the second biggest story focused on the death of a 20-year-old civil engineering student at Clemson University found strangled with a bikini top in her off-campus apartment.

Tiffany Marie Souers, a junior from Ladue, Mo., was found by her roommate on her bedroom floor a few miles from campus May 26.

Jerry Buck Inman was arrested without incident June 6 about a mile from his parents' home in Dandridge, Tenn. His DNA matched samples taken from Souers' off-campus apartment, authorities said.

"He didn't know the victim," Jefferson County (Tenn.) Sheriff David Davenport said. "It is our information he was driving around in the (victim's) neighborhood and saw her and he liked her looks."

The razor-thin race for state education superintendent rounded out the top three stories of the year.

Democrat education superintendent candidate Jim Rex beat Republican Karen Floyd by 455 votes when the state Election Commission certified the results. Four days later, after considering a legal challenge, Floyd conceded.

"Once that election process is complete, everyone must respect the outcome," Floyd said.

The next two stories involved suspected kidnappings and underground rooms.

The No. 4 story happened in a bunker where authorities say a Kershaw County man assaulted and held a 14-year-old girl captive for over a week.

The teen was missing for 10 days before being rescued Sept. 16 after she sent a text message to her mother using her captor's cell phone. A day later, police arrested 36-year-old Vinson Filyaw on kidnapping and rape charges.

The fifth-ranked story occurred in March, when convicted rapist Kenneth Hinson was charged with kidnapping two teens and raping them in an underground room in Darlington County.

Hinson kidnapped two 17-year-old girls March 14 and took them to a closet-sized dungeon behind his home, police said. The girls freed themselves and walked to safety, and Hinson was captured after a four-day manhunt.

"I want him dead, but life without parole, with him never seeing outside again, is fine because he won't hurt anybody else," the mother of one of the girls said at a court hearing.

Associated Press members voted the re-election of Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer as the No. 6 state story of the year. After a recount, Bauer won a second term by 3,108 of the more than 1 million votes cast over Democratic candidate Robert Barber.

The triumph capped a tough year for Bauer which started with the Highway Patrol releasing videos of two different traffic stops where the lieutenant governor was pulled over for speeding, but not ticketed, even though he was once going 101 mph in a 70 mph zone on Interstate 77.

Then, in the story voted No. 7, Bauer crashed his plane while trying to take off from a small private airstrip in Blacksburg on May 23.

Bauer called it a miracle that he and his passenger were only injured. The lieutenant governor spent much of his campaign for re-election recovering from a shattered heel. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

"I'm sure that first time, it's going to be a little scary, but I do plan to fly again," Bauer said. "I've had a lot of other pilots call and say 'Hey I want to fly with you.'"

South Carolina's unemployment figures were voted the No. 8 story of the year.

The state's unemployment rate remained among the highest in the nation throughout 2006, making it a top issue during the election.

Preliminary data show South Carolina's overall unemployment rate for 2006 should average around 6.5 percent, three-tenths of a percent lower than 2005.

A significant change marked the No. 9 story as Reggie Lloyd became South Carolina's first black U.S. Attorney to serve permanently since Reconstruction. Lloyd replaced Strom Thurmond Jr., who resigned after three years as the state's top federal prosecutor.

Lloyd says he'll let other people judge his place in history. But he said he is indebted to giants in the state's black legal community like U.S. District Judge Matthew Perry, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ernest Finney, former state Court of Appeals Judge Jasper Cureton and Columbia attorney I.S. Leevy Johnson.

"These people opened doors for us; at times, they literally risked life and limb. I personally have a hard time comparing anything I could do to everything those guys have gone through," Lloyd said.

AP members rounded out the top 10 with a story that has implications for the next two years. The Democratic National Committee agreed in August to allow South Carolina to hold the first in-the-South presidential primary on Jan. 29, 2008.

"I'm thrilled and excited and looking forward to starting the very challenging work of staging another great presidential primary for the state Democratic Primary," South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Joe Erwin said.