COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford knows what has to be done to win an income tax break for South Carolinians during one of the toughest budget years in decades.

Legislators expect a bill containing Sanford's proposed income tax cut -- along with a 53-cent-a-pack increase on cigarettes and an overhaul of state Medicaid programs -- to end up in conference committee.

But along the way, Sanford expects to do some horse trading, some cajoling of legislators and some old-fashioned grass-roots campaigning to get voters to pressure their lawmakers.

Gubernatorial trade-offs with legislators can take many forms, including accepting their recommendations for magistrates, appearing at events for them and holding ceremonial bill signings that draw attention to their work.

"We're not yet at that stage. That's always the endgame stage where there's trade-offs of `this horse for that horse,' " Sanford says.

Any future deal-making could be as crucial for the state's Medicaid programs as it is for taxpayers. Adding 53 cents to the state's current 7-cents-a-pack cigarette tax would generate $171 million for health-care programs for the state's neediest residents. Medicaid currently faces a $212 million budget shortfall.

In exchange for agreeing to raise the cigarette tax, Sanford wants to lower the state's income tax rate to 5 percent from 7 percent over 15 years.

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday unanimously embraced the income tax cut and voted 12-7 to raise the cigarette tax. The Senate Medical Affairs Committee now will deal with the legislation's Medicaid overhaul.

Sanford started the week selling his plan with stops at businesses around the state on Monday. He said he came away "hearing overwhelming support" and will continue to travel across the state pushing the proposal.

"What I've got to do is connect the public sentiment with legislative action," Sanford said.

On Tuesday, the governor briefly worked the State House lobby, continuing his efforts to win support from legislators.

Sanford, in office just three months and a legislative outsider, knows relationships are key to get his policy agenda into the law books.

Before heading to his U.S. Air Force Reserve training last month, Sanford noted that Republicans in the GOP-controlled House who oppose the cigarette tax have far deeper relationships with legislators than he does.

"You can't out-relationship somebody who's had a relationship for 10, 12 years if you're the new kid on the block," he said. "I don't want to play on that field."

Instead, "I'm going to spend a lot of time going out and talking to people in their neighborhoods, because their neighborhoods will be the thing ... ultimately turning this thing around," he said.