YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Ever wonder what happened to the two pigs — nicknamed Pork and Barrel — that Gov. Mark Sanford carried into the State House?

Sanford told the crowd at a recent Lace House fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, the Greenville Republican who’s running for U.S. Senate, that the barbecue being served should taste familiar. “We took Pork and Barrel out back, killed them, and we’re eating them today,” Sanford said.

He was just kidding.

CHENEY TO HELP DEMINT, TOO

DeMint will get some more fund-raising help later this week from Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney will headline a private fund-raiser Wednesday at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Tickets will cost $2,000, according to an invitation.

A year ago, during his last visit to the state, Cheney raised about $300,000 for President Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign.

DeMint faces Democratic state Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum in the November election.

$2 MILLION ON HAND AND NO RACE TO RUN

While DeMint needs money for his fall race, one Republican politician — Gov. Mark Sanford — is sitting on a mountain of the green stuff.

While he won’t be up for re-election for two years, Sanford has more than $2 million in cash in his coffers, a campaign finance report shows.

Sanford raised $765,349 from individuals and in-kind contributions, the latest quarterly records show. He said he had $2.1 million on hand after spending $78,788.

In a crowded 2002 GOP primary field and the race against incumbent Democrat Jim Hodges, Sanford raised about $7.6 million and spent most of it.

IT’S THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION

Members of Sanford’s Cabinet never seem to learn. Every time the governor shows up at one of their meetings dressed casually, the suit and tie wearers in the room seem surprised.

This past week was no exception.

As Sanford walked in, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and khakis, Commerce Secretary Bob Faith — nattily clad in blue suit — quipped, “We’d appreciate a memo in the future.”

Sanford said he had a good excuse.

“Since Jenny put mold in the house, we’ve been stuck,” Sanford said.

Jenny is first lady Jenny Sanford, but the mold in the Governor’s Mansion was not placed there by her. Still, it has forced the first family to vacate the premises. Sanford has been living in the mansion’s pool house in the interim.

Faith doubted the story, though. “I guess mold shows up more in dark suits.”

WILL GOVERN FOR FOOD

The mold also is affecting the governor’s eating habits.

“Jenny and the kids continue to be at the beach. The hot plate is getting old,” Sanford told his Cabinet. “It’s hot meals I’m looking for.”

No one at the table immediately spoke up to invite Sanford to dinner.

When The Buzz offered the governor a meal, Sanford at first seemed surprised and then promised to “take you up on that.”

But Sanford communications director Chris Drummond called later to say it wouldn’t happen because a member of the governor’s communications team would have to come along, too, to make sure the governor didn’t say anything he shouldn’t.

NOT EVERYONE APPEARS HAPPY

Four years ago, one of the hottest, most unusual political campaigns in the state played out in Goose Creek as Rep. Shirley Hinson and her estranged husband faced each other in a GOP House primary amid allegations that she had an affair with James Law, then a legislator from a neighboring district.

Hinson and Law say they didn’t. Then last week, the couple returned from the Bahamas fresh from saying, “I do.”

“We’ve known each other for so long, and we just decided we wanted to do this,” said Hinson, R-Charleston. “I wish this much happiness for everybody.”

“We are tickled to death about it,” said Law, a Moncks Corner Republican.

Two years before facing his wife in the GOP primary and runoff, Jimmy Hinson had been arrested on charges he’d made a telephone threat to Law. Sworn court statements from a detective noted late-night meetings between his wife and Law.

So news of the marriage “proves what I said all along,” the former school principal said. “There was something going on.”

Shirley Hinson said again Monday that she and Law were never romantically involved before her divorce with Jimmy Hinson. “It is the truth still,” she said.