(Columbia) Jan. 18, 2006 - Governor Mark Sanford says the upcoming election played no role in his crafting of Wednesday night's State of the State address. But his challengers contend his safe speech shows he's in full campaign mode. The audience members outside of the political arena also had a few comments on the Governor's talk.

Sanford's Republican opponent says he was disappointed by the governor's speech. Doctor Oscar Lovelace says Sanford comes across as a follower by thanking the Legislature for their hard work instead of laying out specifics on issues like property taxes.

The spokesman for Sanford's Democratic opponent, Clearwater Senator Tommy Moore, says he agrees with Sanford's push for new job creation. Tim Shock says his solution would be to elect a new governor for South Carolina.

House Minority Leader Rep. Harry Ott, (D-St. Matthews) says, "We are willing to work with him if he's willing to work with us. He mentioned a few things that we are willing to work with him on. Obviously the election of more African American judges would be a good start."

Governor Mark Sanford says he wants the Legislature to elect more black judges and tread carefully in property tax breaks.

Sanford spent more than half of Wedesday night's State of the State address noting accomplishments he shared with the Legislature and the rest saying where the state needs to head.

Sanford's call for more black judges in South Carolina was one of two times during the 50-minute speech Sanford was interrupted by applause. The other big round of applause came as Sanford spoke about property taxes.

The governor did not tell legislators what to do but offered the night's only veto threat. Sanford has said he would veto property tax legislation if it resulted in a tax increase.

Sanford also spoke about stopping tuition increases, and that caught the attention of several people in the audience.

For USC students Ryan Holt and Tommy Preston, listening to the State of the State is a yearly tradition. Ryan says, "My friends and I come every year because we're interested in public service in South Carolina, what the Governor has to say about what the year brings. We've heard he's talking about education here tonight, so we look forward to what he might say in that regard since it's specifically pertinent to us."

From the balcony above they have a bird's eye view. They're waiting to hear the governor's take on higher education costs. Sanford does have something to say on the subject, "I'm asking you once again to place a cap on tuition increases at $250 above the higher education price index."

The students say they take away more by watching the speech in person rather than on television. Tommy Preston says, "We always take notes and we try to get a copy of the speech and read it again to have the information to disseminate to our peers."

So Thursday they'll inform their fellow classmates about what's ahead for the year, and according to Tommy, they're not getting brownie points for this, "No extra credit at all. It's just an interesting experience. This is the third year I've done this and I think it's important."

Reported by Maggie Alexander with AP

Posted 9:40pm by Chantelle Janelle