Dueling press conferences.

Hundreds of calls from constituents, pro and con.

Filibusters threatened on both sides of the argument.

The battle over whether to raise cigarette taxes to pay for health care raged on Tuesday, but still met no resolution.

Gov. Mark Sanford rallied 200 nurses, hospital administrators and other supporters at a press conference to reiterate his support for his plan, which was voted down in the Senate last week.

He said he would agree to sign a cigarette tax increase, but only if the General Assembly also agreed to lower income taxes over time.

"We've got a better shot than we had last week," Sanford said. "We spent a good amount of time over the weekend working with senators."

But House and Senate leaders held a press conference of their own, saying now is not the time for any tax increase.

House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said he wants Senate action instead on a Medicaid reform package. That would include a new computer system that would allow accurate tracking of who has Medicaid and how much the program spends.

"Reform must be before we raise taxes and throw millions of dollars at a program that needs to be overhauled," Wilkins said.

Also, House leaders said the state would be getting a windfall of $255 million in federal money over two years, which is included in a tax-cut bill approved Friday by Congress. Most of that money will go for the Medicaid health care program for the poor, elderly and disabled.

That program was facing a hole of as much as $200 million next year alone in state money before the congressional action.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said the money gives the state "breathing room" to make reforms and avoid raising taxes.

But the governor said he has "great hope" that if his plan makes it out of the Senate, the House will go along.

"Given this degree of public pressure, the political system will respond," Sanford said.

The problem is, no one is united.

Republicans have the majority in the Senate, but some Republicans like it, some don't.

And Democrats want the cigarette tax, but not with the governor's income tax plan.

"We want to get this cigarette tax passed so we can see that little children have good health," said state Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greenville, long a champion of the cigarette tax increase.

Senate Finance Committee chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said the federal windfall is a salve, not a cure.

"If we don't fund Medicaid with recurring moneys, two years from this day we'll be back exactly where we are now," Leatherman said.

Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Jasper, represents a district in which 60 percent or more of children and seniors are on Medicaid.

"I've had smokers come to me and say, 'I know this will hurt my pocketbook, but I know it's important,'" Pinckney said.

He said Sanford's plan was "disappointing" because it would benefit the most wealthy at the top income tax bracket.

"We're trying to help the most needy, and he turns around to try to help the people who need it least."