That's the question lingering at the Statehouse these days as the General Assembly winds down in an atypically nasty fashion.

During the contentious veto process, Sanford and his staff have publicly taken swings at the House Ways and Means chairman, criticizing his spending priorities and efforts to override most of the governor's budget cuts.

At one point, Sanford said Democrats supported more of his vetoes than Harrell and suggested that the chief budget writer isn't the fiscal conservative he claims to be.

Harrell responded that the state budget has shrunk by $105 million in his tenure and that he'd put his record up against the governor's any day.

They are two of the Lowcountry's most powerful politicians, and some observers say the differences between the men are long-standing.

The rancor is only coming to light now, some suggest, because the governor doesn't want Harrell to succeed David Wilkins as House speaker.

This issue is the topic of choice in the Statehouse these days, and the only certainty is the principals in this brouhaha are more reticent than their supporters.

"That's silly," Sanford says. "That's a House issue. We will work with whoever the members elect."Harrell, a highly circumspect lawmaker, concedes he's not exactly feeling love vibes from the governor's office these days.

"All I know is that I've worked very hard on a large portion of his agenda and it's frustrating," Harrell says. "But I'm going to keep on doing what I think is right and let the chips fall where they will."

Opinions abound. Some say Harrell has become the General Assembly's lightning rod in a philosophical battle between the executive and legislative branches. Others speculate that Sanford sees the Charleston Republican as a potential rival in the next election.

"You look at the veto message, it highlighted Charleston," says state Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Piedmont. "I think the governor likes to get what he wants and doesn't like it if he doesn't. But sometimes you can say 'yes' to him and he still doesn't like it. He doesn't always get his way with Bobby."

Sanford supporters say Harrell is just the personification of a political process the governor wants to change. They say the problems stem from Harrell's refusal to restore completely the reserve and trust funds, a decision that prompted Sanford's veto. They contend personal politics don't enter into it.

State Rep. Ben Hagood, R-Sullivan's Island, said, "I think Bobby is an outstanding legislative leader, one of the best I've seen in any arena, and I think Mark is trying to change the arena."

When Sanford took office, everything was sunshine and lollipops among Lowcountry Republicans. Glenn McConnell controlled the Senate as President Pro Tem, Sanford had the governor's office and Harrell, as Ways and Means chairman, wrote the budget.

It looked like the beginning of beautiful power trio. But eight months after taking office, Sanford publicly embarrassed Harrell, the budget guru, by pulling out a newspaper article to refute the lawmaker's stance on the budget shortfall. This happened at a meeting of the Budget and Control Board, a powerful state panel both men sit on, and some insiders have said Harrell was furious.

Soon, Sanford had rubbed much of the rest of the General Assembly the wrong way. Not the type to loiter and lobby with lawmakers, the governor got a reputation of making public policy pronouncements the Legislature studiously ignored. The days of GOP harmony had been brief.

Sanford decided to write his own budget, producing a much more detailed document than any of his predecessors. Most lawmakers said the massive proposals made lovely doorstops. Harrell promised to take the suggestions seriously. Some of the governor's ideas were adopted, most weren't.

Last year, a television ad for Americans for Tax Reform ran on Columbia stations criticizing Harrell for his push for a Palmetto Bowl football game in Charleston. The ad called the proposal a $5 million "boondoggle for taxpayers." The group produced the commercial using a political consultant Sanford had also employed.

The governor said the ad was "in poor taste," but stopped short of saying he would quit using the consulting firm. Many lawmakers thought the ad was an attempt to hurt Harrell's image and suspected the governor was behind it.

"I think all these attacks on Bobby are about them being afraid he's going to run for governor," says state Rep. Robert "Skipper" Perry, R-Aiken, expressing a common view in Columbia. "Bobby builds bridges, he doesn't burn them down."

Harrell and Sanford say they have talked about the 2006 governor's race and agree they don't have a conflict. "I'm not planning to run for governor, and I've told him that," Harrell says.

Sanford's disputes with Harrell are mostly about the budget, and most lawmakers seem to side against the governor's philosophy. The budget bill passed the House unanimously this year, but it didn't restore trust and reserve funds to the levels the governor wanted, nor did it implement cuts he called for.

"I think Bobby is really a high-profile target," says House Minority Leader Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews. "He represents the budget. The governor has shown he's consistently against public education, and Bobby's has always been a big supporter of public schools. I think the governor holds that against him."

Others in the House say Sanford's goal of shrinking government does not mesh with the good ol' boy political system entrenched in the Statehouse, and Harrell is doling out pork to House members for support in the speaker's race.

"Obviously they have different interpretations of priorities," says state Rep. James Stewart, R-Aiken. "The governor and I believe the highest priority this year is restoring trust funds, and Bobby believes it is spending $50,000 to fix a tomb that's been deteriorating for 50 years."

Basically, the two men just have different opinions. Sanford argues state government is growing at a 9 percent clip, far faster than the income of any South Carolinians. Harrell says the governor's statistic includes federal pass-through money, which the General Assembly has no control over.

Harrell says that in his time as Ways and Means chairman, the budget has shrunk by $105 million. Sanford says a national fiscal crisis is to credit for that, not fiscal conservatism.

The animosity reached critical mass with the governor's vetoes. When Sanford issued his list of 163 spending cuts, he divided what he considered pork projects by county. Charleston and Florence, the home county of Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, were put in bold type, along with Colleton County, which got $5 million for Edisto beach renourishment.

Many lawmakers say it clearly was an attempt to embarrass Harrell. Sanford says he was merely showing where the most money had been spent.

"I come from Charleston County, you think I like highlighting (those vetoes)? But those are the facts," Sanford says. "Numbers are not personal. We're very simply for a set of ideas. We are not for or against any individual."

Some House members say that if there is any place the governor wants Harrell less than at the helm of Ways and Means, it is in the speaker's office. Sanford supporters say those people are floating the idea of a Sanford-Harrell feud to gain Harrell sympathy votes in the impending speaker election.