COLUMBIA--If you ever doubted that Republicans dominate the state Legislature, this week in the S.C. House of Representatives should have been enough to change your mind.

In what turned out to be a hectic week, House Republicans pushed through four key pieces of legislation, two of which were so GOP-influenced they should have been carried from the House to the Senate on the back of an elephant.

House members passed legislation to strengthen the ban on gay marriages in the state and approved Gov. Mark Sanford's income tax reduction plan. For brevity's sake, I will sum up the process as follows: Republicans introduce bill. Democrats spend 30 minutes criticizing it. Bill passes 80 to 20. The remaining 24 House members miss the vote playing patty cake with lobbyists outside the chamber.

While the votes were forgone conclusions, Democratic attempts to change the will of the body gave members a chance to hear a powerful speaker.

State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, put all the legislators to shame when it came to skillful, direct oratory.

Last week during the budget debates, she took the floor repeatedly to argue against the Republican agenda. This week she took aim at the gay marriage bill.

"I hear a lot of you using the Bible as a reason for this bill," she said, scanning an unusually quiet chamber. "But it seems to me some of you have forgotten the supreme message of the Bible, that of love and mercy and compassion."

For those who have never seen her in action, Cobb-Hunter is something to behold. Think of that eighth-grade teacher who could take you down with a simple, knowing look and the power of a properly emphasized, "Sweetheart, what do you think you're doing."

SEAT BELT HOLDING PATTERN

For weeks now Senate President Pro-Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, has been holding up passage of a bill that would establish a primary seat belt law in South Carolina.

South Carolina has a secondary seat belt law, which allows police to ticket motorists for seat belt violations when they are pulled over for another offense. A primary seat belt law would allow police to stop and ticket a motorist for not wearing a seat belt. If passed, the measure would head to the governor for approval.

The measure has the votes in the Senate to pass, but McConnell has managed to stymie supporters through diligent filibustering.

Three times now the most powerful man in the Senate has come to the floor, armed with books on liberty and a gift for extemporaneous thinking, and three times now the Senate has listened for an hour or two and then voted to adjourn debate, allowing McConnell to keep the floor.

Sen. John Drummond, D-Greenwood, said Tuesday would likely be the day when the measure is decided.

The Senate expects to take up the proposal immediately upon starting the session. McConnell still has the floor.

Drummond said the time has come for senators to gird themselves for a long night.

"We will just have to wait him out," he said. "(McConnell's) tough when he thinks he's right. But I don't think he is right on this one, and we will just have to outlast him."

Drummond, the longest serving senator and former Senate President Pro Tem, is a veteran of many filibusters. He has stayed in session long enough to see the sun rise.

"Sometimes when you have an important bill, that's what you have to do," he said. "And this is important. It saves people's lives."

PANTHER HONORED

Carolina Panther running back and native South Carolinian Stephen Davis was given the "privilege of the floor" Wednesday as the House honored the running back for his accomplishments on the field and in the community.

House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, took the floor and detailed Davis' accomplishments as an athlete. Davis played high school football in Spartanburg and this year broke the Panther's single-season rushing record.

Smith said Davis was always a man among boys.

"There is no doubt, he is one tough customer on the field," he said.

Then to prove his toughness Davis bench-pressed state Rep. John Graham Altman III, R-Charleston.

MILITARY AID

The Senate passed a bill Thursday, sponsored by state Sen. John Courson, R-Columbia, that seeks to give economic relief to military families.

The proposal would raise about $45,000 though an income tax check-off that would help families of activated National Guard or Reserve members make utility and mortgage payments. The bill now heads to the House.

THURMOND'S DAUGHTER

A technicality has put a temporary hold on efforts to add the name of the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond's biracial daughter to his monument.

Senators decided to wait on passing legislation that would add Essie Mae Washington-Williams' name to the monument until they can determine exactly how the name should appear. The delay is not expected to last long.