Mark Sanford for president? Some South Carolinians answer: "Why?" This one asks: "Why not?"

And if not, when's our turn? Our state has a severely limited claim to two presidents: Andrew Jackson, born and raised in South Carolina, and Woodrow Wilson, who spent four teen years as a Columbia resident. Sanford, though born in Fort Lauderdale, is clearly a South Carolinian.

OK, so billing a first-term Palmetto State governor as a presidential contender sounds premature.

Hey, once upon a time in Georgia, billing one-term Gov. Jimmy Carter as a presidential contender sounded premature, too. Many Californians, Texans and Arkansans also were bewildered at initial rumblings of White House potential for Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and the George Bushes. Few 1858 Illinoisans thought their freshly defeated U.S. Senate candidate would be elected as the first Republican president a mere two years later.

So don't rush to dismiss Sanford's presidential (or vice-presidential) prospects. After all, who would be his GOP competition? John McCain? Too old. Rudy Giuliani? Too soft on abortion to win the nomination. Arnold Schwarzenegger? Too Austrian to overcome that born-in-the-U.S.A. constitutional requirement. Mitt Romney?

Too Massachusetts.

The 2008 Democratic nominee will likely carry the "liberal" baggage that's burdened his -- or her? -- predecessors as the party lost seven of the last 10 presidential elections. Hillary Rodham Clinton won't easily erase that label.

Nor can Sanford easily erase presidential speculation. But he told me Wednesday his full focus is on getting his program through the Statehouse, not getting himself into the White House. He expressed the wish that his dad were still alive to hear the "incredibly flattering" presidential conjecture, yet insisted: "It's really the last thing on my mind." He filed a "Draft Sanford For President" Web site (draftsanford.cjb.net) under "no good deed goes unpunished."

Did he say, "No way I'm running for president in 2008?"

No way.

He did make this political-future statement: "We're indeed running again" for governor next year, though no formal announcement has been made.

But despite his obligatory Oval Office-aspiration denials, Sanford's national star is rising. The conservative/libertarian Cato Institute, in releasing its "Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2004" Tuesday, rated him fifth out of 42 governors graded. Cato's criteria: "Governors who have cut taxes and spending the most receive the highest grades. Those who have increased spending and taxes the most receive the lowest grades."

The four governors (all Republicans) who got As, with numerical scores: California's Arnold Schwarzenegger 84; New Hampshire's Craig Benson 82; Colorado's Bill Owens 77; Montana's Judy Martz 75. Sanford was next with the best of the Bs at 70. And during Sanford's three terms in Congress, his frugality consistently earned As from the National Taxpayers Union.

Republicans could use a frugality booster after a domestic spending spree during the first term of President Bush, who still hasn't vetoed an appropriations bill. And four of the 11 Bs went to Democrats: New Mexico's Bill Richardson, Tennessee's Phil Bredesen, Maine's John Baldacci and Washington's Gary Locke. Richardson shared the Cato report-card spotlight with Sanford Tuesday in Washington.

Perhaps Sanford could help the GOP restore its thrift legacy. Perhaps he could put former congressional colleague Richardson, secretary of energy under Clinton, on his first-term presidential cabinet.

Perhaps this praise of Sanford from Cato's report-card analysis will convince in-state doubters of his national credentials: "It's inspiring to see someone fight as hard for such deeply held principles as Mark Sanford does. It's a shame the entrenched powers in the state legislature aren't more cooperative."

Will that shame those "entrenched powers" into being more cooperative with our widely esteemed governor?

Sure, many Americans, even some South Carolinians, don't share the philosophies of Cato -- or Sanford. Yet they do share a recent bipartisan tendency in promoting ex-governors to the White House (Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush II).

But before boarding the "Sanford in 2008" bandwagon, remember that "Sanford in 2006" comes first, when S.C. voters, not Cato, will give him a far more important grade than the one he got Tuesday.

Last week's column asked: "Unless Dick Cheney improbably heads the GOP ticket, the next presidential election year will be the first since when to feature neither a sitting president nor vice president seeking the White House?"

Several readers nominated 1952, instead of the column's 1928. But in '52, VP Alben Barkley sought the White House by seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, losing that honor to Adlai Stevenson.