COLUMBIA--By the time the 2003 General Assembly adjourned Thursday afternoon, the legislative session had turned into a chaotic circus of partisan posturing, filibustering and deal-brokering.

And that was just in the Senate anteroom.

In the end, lawmakers limped away from the Statehouse with a bare-bones $5 billion budget, the prospect of a $500 million budget deficit come next year's session, and no way to come back and override any veto Gov. Mark Sanford makes in the next week.

Although Republicans declared victory for holding the line on taxes and Democrats criticized the GOP for failing to fund the state's basic needs, both sides left the capital sounding like a losing high school football team muttering "just wait until next year."

In fact, much of the major work the Legislature hoped to accomplish this year, such as Medicaid reform, Public Service Commission reform, a referendum on minibottles and government restructuring, will have to wait until next year.

But in the final minutes of thesession, the General Assembly managed to lower the state's legal blood alcohol limit to .08, pass campaign finance reform and maintain K-12 per-pupil spending at this year's level.

The day began with Democrats throwing a wrench into Republican plans to extend the session by a few days to deal with any vetoes Sanford makes to the 2003-04 budget.

To extend the session, which by law had to end at 5 p.m. Thursday, the Legislature would have had to approve a sine die resolution by a two-thirds majority, which meant both parties would have to agree. Although the House passed the extension, Senate Democrats refused to go along.

The trick ensures that, barring a Sanford call for a special session, any vetoes the governor makes will stand until at least January, when the General Assembly reconvenes. Sen. John Land, the Democratic leader, said Republicans had mismanaged the state's finances terribly and not lived up to responsibilities and he did not see any sense in costing taxpayers $75,000 a day for an extended session to let them do more.

"When the people of South Carolina really find out what has been done to education and health care, they are really going to be excited," said Land, D-Manning. "Democrats put up plans to raise the revenue and the Republican majorities in both houses defeated them. The blame lies at their feet for the worst budget in South Carolina history."

The Democratic Caucus held a press conference on the Statehouse steps giving the Legislature an "F" in every category except consumer protection, which earned a "C" because of the predatory lending act. Rep. James E. Smith, the House Democratic leader, said the Republican-controlled House had rigged the budget so badly that, "they raided a $4,000 donation box to help balance a $5 billion budget."

Rep. Jerry Govan, chairman of the House Black Legislative Caucus, said that voters will remember this budget when election time rolls around in 2004.

Meanwhile, the Senate was backed up on its work as Sen. John Kuhn, R-Charleston, filibustered a research and economic development bond bill for hours, cutting into work time. After Democrats refused to agree to the session extension, senators popped up left and right stopping bills.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said the logjam would take up so much time that several important bills would not pass this year.

"I think they (legislators) have done what my daddy always said you shouldn't do, which is get mad enough to cost yourself money," McConnell said.

Passage of the .08 DUI legislation came literally in the final minutes of the session. A conference committee of House and Senate members, with the unusual presence of the governor at the table, was still arguing on the tougher drunken driving law with just 40 minutes left in the session.

The House version gave prosecutors too much power, McConnell contended, and was taking away the rights of citizens by giving too much weight to the verdict of a Breathalyzer.

One of the most outspoken proponents of the bill, Rep. JoAnne Gilham, R-Hilton Head, tried to fight off Senate language to weaken the bill by asking the state attorney general to file suit against the U.S. government for mandating the law change; but McConnell refused to back down.

"The Senate's not to blame for this. You sent us a defective bill," McConnell said.

After the 5 p.m. adjournment, House Speaker David Wilkins fired back at Democrats, saying that the General Assembly had devoted a higher percentage of the state's budget to K-12 education than any other Legislature.

"We made the most out of the limited resources we had available and made K-12 our highest priority," Wilkins said. "Just like families in South Carolina, when we don't have money, we have to make do with less."

The speaker said that with no rosy revenue picture on the horizon, he expected the House to work on "major tax reform" next January.

And Sanford said that campaign finance reform, DMV restructuring and the DUI legislation were good wins for his first legislative session, which he said was good for building the relationships in the Legislature he will need to pass the government restructuring and tax reform initiatives that he stumped for in his campaign.

He dismissed Democrats' charges that he had not been an effective leader. Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville, said that "it's ironic that Sanford campaigned against Gov. Hodges for a failure of leadership and then when the going gets tough, put on his shorts and went to Bermuda."

Sanford said that being the first governor in 50 years not to have been a part of state government before his election, there was no way he could come in and bully people around in a state dominated by the Legislature.

"I think it's about relationships at the state level," Sanford said. "Anybody who comes into this system and says that he knows it all is wrong and setting himself up for failure. As a result of work this year, we'll be better positioned for setting priorities in the next session."

Sanford, who may see little incentive for calling lawmakers back to Columbia to override his vetoes, nevertheless said he would consider the option of calling the General Assembly back for special session. But most Statehouse insiders consider that an unlikely option.