(Columbia-AP) Dec. 20, 2004 - The retirement of 82-year-old US Senator Fritz Hollings and the race to replace him has been voted the top story of 2004 in South Carolina.

Hollings' political career spanned more than half a century as a Democratic state legislator, governor and senator. He delivered his final Senate speech last month, criticizing his colleagues as he always has for their spending and free-trade policies.

The race to replace him boiled down to a choice between three-term Republican congressman Jim DeMint and Democratic state Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, along with a few third-party candidates.

DeMint won the general election, giving South Carolina two Republican senators for the first time since Reconstruction and strengthening Republican domination in the Senate.

Here are the Top 10 South Carolina stories of 2004 as voted on by AP members statewide:

1. US Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-S.C., closes his political career that spanned more than half a century as a state legislator, governor and US senator. US Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., defeats Democratic Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum for Hollings' seat, giving South Carolina two GOP senators.
2. Busiest hurricane season in decades causes almost $150 million in damage as two hurricanes make landfall in Charleston County and a total of seven storms affect the state. For the first time in more than a century, the tracks of four storms move across the state. Tornadoes spawned by hurricanes help South Carolina set a new yearly record with 76 twisters.
3. Former Lt. Gov. Earle Morris Jr. is convicted, Larry Owen pleads guilty and a civil settlement of 18 cents on the dollar is reached in the Carolina Investors' bankruptcy in which more than 8,000 investors lost $278 million when the Pickens-based company collapsed last year.
4. South Carolina holds the first-in-the-South Democratic presidential primary in February, giving North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, a Seneca native, his only primary win.
5. Gov. Mark Sanford spars repeatedly with the Legislature, even bringing piglets to the Statehouse to emphasize what he calls pork barrel spending and threatening a lawsuit over packing different issues into a single bill.
6. An FBI and SLED investigation of a cockfighting operation results in the indictment of state Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Sharpe. He is accused of accepting at least $20,000 from an organization involved in breeding and raising birds for cockfighting in exchange for helping the group avoid legal trouble.
7. A January fire at a Comfort Inn in Greenville kills six people and injures 12 others. The fire was ruled arson, though no suspects are arrested.
8. South Carolina voters pass a constitutional amendment on minibottles that allows legislators to decide how drinks will be served.
9. Thousands of re-enactors and members of the public attend the April burial in Charleston for the crewmen from the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, called the last Confederate funeral. Descendants of the crewmen also attend.
10. Legislature passes a bill allowing tattooing. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control Board approves new tattoo regulations in November, but getting a legal tattoo is still months away.

posted 3:30pm by Chris Rees