When South Carolinians went to the polls in 2002 to elect a governor, they thought they were getting a new moderate, sophisticated leader in Republican Mark Sanford.

Instead, they seem to have gotten the class clown.

On Thursday, Sanford carried two squealing piglets — dubbed “Pork” and “Barrel” — under his arms up the steps to the lobby outside the House and Senate to decry what he saw as pork in the new state budget.

Most lawmakers blasted it as a stunt, and some said it would make the state the butt of jokes nationally.

“It was like high school high jinks,” says University of South Carolina analyst Blease Graham.

“This was definitely a stunt out of the past from a good-time Charlie,” says University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.

His book “Goodbye to Good-Time Charlie” told the story of a new breed of Southern governors replacing old Democratic war horses who gave great stump speeches but couldn’t govern.

South Carolinians have a lot of pride. They can tolerate most anything, including disappointment and failure. But they cannot accept public officials who embarrass them.

Sanford did.

“It was an in-your-face kind of thing,” Graham said. “The real problem now is, how do you have the next round of conversation with (lawmakers) after you’ve embarrassed them and after the governor has become the brunt of jokes?

“What do you say next?”

Sanford is standing his ground. Asked a day later if he would pull the same stunt again, his response was “Absolutely.”

“I’m going to use any means available to me to raise that issue. This was a lighthearted way of getting a point across.”

Unfortunately for Sanford, his stunt has drowned out his message. All anyone wants to talk about is the governor and those pigs instead of engaging in a substantive discussion of the budget.

“How does this man come back and deliver his State of the State address next year?” wonders Francis Marion University professor Neal Thigpen.

“He has probably damaged himself with the Legislature. He’s going to have two long years.”

And who knows what impact this might have on his re-election, should he choose to seek another term in 2006.

In 1950, then-Gov. Strom Thurmond paid dearly for standing on his head for photographers to demonstrate his physical fitness. The photo appeared in Life magazine and served as fodder for many jokes.

U.S. Sen. Olin D. Johnston took that picture on the campaign trail and held it up at every stop, asking people if they wanted to vote for someone who stood on his head. Thurmond lost. It was his only statewide defeat.

South Carolinians respect their institutions and expect a certain amount of decorum from their highest officials.

What Sanford did was demeaning to the office of governor and the state of South Carolina. And it certainly didn’t help our image. Outsiders already have this stereotype of the South, and something like this confirms that sad image.

Once again, thanks to Sanford, it’s acceptable to laugh at South Carolina.

Sanford would have been better advised to hold a news conference and say what he wanted to say in an appropriate, dignified manner.

The pig stunt caught many by surprise. It seemed out of character for someone like Sanford with his privileged background. It is completely counter to his casual-but-with-a-serious-message image.

Before Thursday, it would have been hard to imagine Sanford going around holding piglets that are pooping on his shoes.

But then maybe the piglets were in cahoots with the Legislature.

The snicker factor has set in, and, sadly, South Carolina is the butt of the joke — again.