After barely four months in office, Gov. Mark Sanford held his first campaign fund-raiser as an incumbent last week, bringing in around $200,000.

The event, held at the Leaside convention center off Garners Ferry Road in Columbia, featured U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.

"It went really well," said Sanford, who also has opened a campaign office in the SouthTrust building at Assembly and Gervais streets. "It was a nice thing for Chuck to do."

The take from the event increases by nearly 50 percent Sanford's campaign cash on hand -- bringing the total to about $700,000. According to the governor's April 10 campaign finance report, he already had more than $480,000 in the bank.

By comparison, former Gov. Jim Hodges had slightly more than $1 million in the bank after the first quarter of 1999, his first following the 1998 election.

Almost all of Sanford's money is left over from last year's campaign. In the first quarter of this year -- before the Hagel fund-raiser -- the governor had raised just $4,545.

Since January, Sanford has received five contributions from:

• Robert Loudermilk Jr. of Atlanta: $150

• Gillis Advertising of Columbia: $250

• Phillip Hodges Jr. of Beaufort: $250

• Norfolk Southern Corp. of Columbia: $1,000

• Reinsurance Association of America, of Washington, D.C.: $2,500.

Sanford had no significant expenditures during the quarter.

Hodges still has $55,000 left in his campaign account after spending more than $40,000 from January through April.

Among his expenditures, Hodges paid bills and taxes left over from the campaign, and donated $1,125 to the A.C. Moore Foundation, benefiting A.C. Moore Elementary School in Columbia.