What are your reflections on your first 100 days?

It's been busy.

In the military, they groom you -- you work your way on up and eventually you may end up a general. In the corporate world, you might be chief financial operator, in European operations, in American operations, so you've got a real working relationship with the company.

Politics is quite different.

There's a real growing period with any new job in general, but I think there's an exceptional growing curve in politics, especially given the size and scope of the government. You're talking about a $10 billion corporation with a lot of moving parts, and an unprecedented budget year.

But I think we're beginning to find our feet.

How is it different from Congress, and your experience there?

You have much less leverage in the political system as a member of Congress than you might in the executive branch.

I voted by myself a lot. At the end of the day, it didn't change the outcome of the vote. But you could make a statement that this is what government ought or ought not be doing.

In the executive branch, you make more than a statement.

An example would be a bill we're vetoing, a Department of Natural Resources bill that would require anybody hunting deer to wear orange. At the federal level, no-brainer. The libertarian in me would say, wear whatever you want to wear. But at the same time, you hesitate.

In the executive branch, say you veto it. What if two teenagers go out hunting, and because they weren't wearing orange, one shoots the other? A lot of this has a lot more weight.

You have to say, it's not ideal from a liberty standpoint, but does the good outweigh the bad? How hard is it for the kid to wear an orange hat?

You talked in the campaign about running from outside Columbia. Is it possible to govern as an outsider?

It goes back to the difference between a tactic and a principle.

The principles you're after, rather than the tactics you use to accomplish them, are the things that keep you an outsider. I haven't lost that so far.

You have to be focused on listening. You've got to very consciously make a point of listening to the people. At the same time, you've got to make a real effort to hear what the Legislature's up to. And you got to marry the two.

Speaking of relationships with the Legislature, you introduced your cigarette tax the day after the House passed a different proposal. In retrospect, what would you do differently?

You're the new kid in town, you don't want to come in and say, I know it all. What I think you want to do is to signal.

I did this in the State of the State speech. What I've learned is that next year, I'm going to be much more specific. I'm going to say, "This way, in this form," so if people don't want to do it, we have a food fight and go from there.

But if you're new to the system, you want to say, "Here's in general where I want to go and you guys can fill in the blanks."

It got late in the cycle. The House was going to do what it's going to do. The end game here is conference. But what I do want to do is signal to the Senate, here is where I'm coming from, in very direct terms. That's why we did what we did.

Did any rift result, with Speaker Wilkins or any of the Senate leaders?

There's no rift. This is politics and politics makes for strange bedfellows.

So you can be together on an issue one day and fighting at each other on the next day. That's the nature of the political process. I've been around long enough to know and accept that.

What are you doing about education and should you be more out front on the issue?

We have a very odd process in S.C., in that the outgoing governor sets the budget. Next year, I'll have my first whack at it, and I think you'll see a very, very specific budget in terms of priorities.

I think that I've been fairly consistent in all of it, saying, we've got to look at reforms. If you simply say, "more money," the question then is where does the money come from. People say, a general sales tax, etc. I have a problem with that.

We think education reforms ought to come first.

Political heat is what makes for change. We do have the political heat part; what we're hoping for is change. Will we trade off certain "money" things for "change" things? Yes.

What do you mean by that?

If you simply add more money to the process right now, which in this budget year is the unrealistic part, you have to zero out other categories of government. Period.

You cannot cut Corrections much more than it's been cut. You can't cut Public Safety. There are some areas of government that are real problem spots.

To say that school districts can't afford any fiscal impact is not consistent with what I've seen happen. Anything in government would obviously be better served by more money. Would education be better served? Yes.

But that's not the card we're dealt this year. We're dealt a horrible budget year. So the question is, do you raise some taxes and throw more money at it? Or, do you use this time to make structural changes, then as the economy rebounds, certainly you put more money at it. My approach is the second.

Any second thoughts about the decision to go to training with your Guard unit and serve if you were called up?

It made me a better governor. That's the bottom line. All I'd said was, if called up, I'll go. I was in communication, I was able to handle the responsibilities.

I think it was a win-win. I was able to handle that and I was able to pick up some leadership lessons, that I think are invaluable to me in this role.

I think that if you've been doing one thing in your life for 10 years -- which for me is the political process -- and all of a sudden, you do something completely different, just that pause alone gives you perspective.

What's been the most fun so far about this job?

(Ten second pause)

It's been busy. The barbecue was fun. I'm happiest when I'm in my element, and my element is a little bit more casual, a little bit more relaxed.

That is the way people are when I'm visiting with them on stops. That is not necessarily the way Columbia is.

And Jenny and the kids?

It's been an adjustment.

Not that anyone would complain about living in the mansion; it's a beautiful house, but it does go with some territory.

Jenny was saying how happy the kids were to go on spring break at the beach (to the family's home on Sullivan's Island). She said it was just magical.

They can't do squirt guns in the Governor's Mansion. It's just not allowed. But at the house down there, it's cinder block walls downstairs. Can you hurt the place? What do we care? So they're free to be little kids and run around.