(Columbia)- When we think of Inez Tenenbaum on the campaign trail the first thing that comes to mind is her fiery, red dress. Much different than the cool green she wore when we sat down to talk. Perhaps displaying a more relaxed mood, like that of someone who just finished eight years in state office.

"It's a great sense of relief to be handing the baton of state education over to Jim Rex," she said of her successor.

She literally had to hand the baton over to Rex at the Inaugural address on Wednesday she said.

"Well I forgot to turn in my keys to the Rutledge Building [Tuesday] when I got home. So after he sat down next to me, when he was sworn in, I had the keys in my pocket book. I reached and put them in his hands and said 'Congrats, here are the keys to the Rutledge Building.' He put them in his pocket," a story she shares with a big laugh.

But handing those keys over wasn't so easy for her, considering all she's been through as one of the most productive of the eleven Superintendents that have headed the Rutledge Building, where the State Department of Education is located. It would be near impossible to list all the incentives she helped put in place over the last eight years, but some of her more memorable achievements include:

-- Putting a cop in every school hallway. Just after she took office, the school shooting tragedy a Columbine occurred. So, then Governor Jim Hodges and Tenenbaum partnered to create the School Resource Officer program.

-- While in office, the Federal No Child Left Behind Act was passed, so she was charged with revamping and rebuilding the PACT test for our Third through Eighth graders.

-- She also implemented the Education Economic Development Act, which puts students in career clusters to focus them on their future, and possibly cut the drop out rate.

-- And is most proud of the programs she's put in place giving incentives to our state's teachers. Right now, South Carolina ranks third nationally in the number of board certified teachers.

"Probably my greatest legacy is increasing academic achievement and closing that achievement gap between students," Tenenbaum says, referencing the gains students have made on the PACT test and SAT.

But perhaps a less popular legacy for her is what happened only six months into her first term. When the state had to move in and take over a damaged Allendale County School District. The first time in history anything like that had ever happened.

"Takeovers are not good for the State Department and they're not good for the county. It left a stigma in Allendale that will be felt for many years to come, and I will regret that."

It's one of her few regrets.

Even her losing run at a U.S. Senate seat against Jim Demint in 2004 was seen as a positive, although things did get ugly between the two of them. Nationally run, negative attack ads cast an ugly light on South Carolina education and Tenenbaum's State Department.

"It was exhilarating to have run that race and I'm glad I ran it but I hate that the negative ads changed the perception of education. We're not 50th," she asserted.

But don't confuse this with a goodbye. Many think this will not be the last time you see her stumping in that famous red dress.

"I'm going to take time to rest and relax with my family and reflect on what I want to do in the future."

When asked about a go at another U.S Senate seat, or even the Governor's Mansion, there was no denial of either possibility.

"There are several things for which I could run but we'll have to wait and see," she said with a smile.

The very popular Senator Lindsey Graham's seat comes up for election in two years. And we'll elect another governor in four years.

Whatever the future holds, she says right now she's happy about where she's leaving our education system, and says today, "I’ll probably get the rake out and work in the yard."

And at the end of the interview she gave one of the most fitting quotes ever to be the bookend for a story – as well as term in office.

"I have fought the fight, I have kept the faith, and I have helped the students of South Carolina be everything they can be."