Gov. Mark Sanford got his first taste of hurricane evacuation decision-making last week. At one point, emergency personnel asked him to consider ordering a voluntary evacuation as Hurricane Isabel threatened the coast. Sanford opted not to call for an evacuation, and the storm had little impact on the state.

‘ ... on how the state's budget woes affect even hurricane evacuations:

"The emergency people are pushing you to get people there earlier, which can be costly. You have to have your state taxpayer hat on. But if you get that wrong, there ain't no plus in having saved some money."

... on how his Lowcountry roots entered into the decision:

"We went down to the family farm in Beaufort (Sept. 6), and I was explaining to (his four young sons) if that thing comes this way, there'd be about seven feet of water in the living room. (That is) a piece of property that has a whole host of boyhood memories and experiences‘ .‘.‘. a hurricane could come and wipe that out. Ain't nothing you can do about that, but that makes your angst about the hurricanes that much more real."

‘.‘.‘. on the value of going through the process:

"The military's great because you constantly rehearse and rehearse and rehearse. I don't think you can rehearse enough for this sort of thing. You can never replicate the real experience of war. But this was a real-world training exercise with the pressures of a war, which in this case was a hurricane."