Once again, the South Carolina General Assembly reigns supreme.

The big loser is Gov. Mark Sanford. Hardly anything he proposed saw the light of day. Most of what he offered was either rejected or ignored by his fellow Republicans who lead the General Assembly.

Lawmakers showed the governor who runs this state.

Working together in a cooperative spirit not witnessed in recent years, Republican and Democratic members — minus the governor — adopted a balanced budget in record time while meeting the state’s obligations to its people.

They funded education, health care and public safety, extended an overdue pay raise to state employees, and adopted a tax cut for small businesses.

Sanford sought to re-enter the debate and recapture the high ground with 163 vetoes of various budget items. But Democrats and Republicans banded together to override most of them overwhelmingly.

“They had a common adversary,” says Winthrop University political scientist Scott Huffmon.

In a strong legislative state like South Carolina, the governor often plays second fiddle to the General Assembly. But that hasn’t stopped previous governors from getting their agendas through the Legislature.

Senate Democratic Leader John Land of Manning says every governor he has served under for 31 years has been able to get his program approved.

“This governor can’t get anything through, and he has a Republican House and Senate to help,” Land says. “I don’t know whether it’s his game plan to not have a victory. But if it is, he’s batting a thousand percent.”

Furman University professor Danielle Vinson blames Sanford’s plight on a lack of political skills.

“He does a good job articulating his ideas, but he simply cannot get them considered by the Legislature,” she says.

The defining moment this year came when the House refused to consider Sanford’s much ballyhooed tuition tax credit proposal.

The governor had put all of his political prestige on the line for that one issue, only to see it fail for lack of support. His own party voted to kill it, a real blow.

It is often said the number one job for a governor is to persuade, especially in a legislative state like South Carolina.

Again, the governor has failed, accomplishing little, says Bob Botsch, a political science professor at USC Aiken.

“You can count on one hand the number of accomplishments he has had, and have some fingers left over,” Botsch says. “We’re not going to have an effective governor until we have a governor who can work with — rather than talking down to — legislators.”

Sanford is not one to compromise. He detests horse-trading. He’d rather walk off with nothing than win half a loaf.

Most governors seek productive sessions in the Legislature to show they’re in charge. But Sanford failed that test.

“I don’t see where he comes away with anything,” says Francis Marion University analyst Neal Thigpen. “The only thing he can point to is that he has stood up for principle.”

Despite the disappointing year, Sanford is keeping his chin up.

“While I wish more had been done on income tax relief, government restructuring and stimulating charter school growth in our state,” he says, “we’ll keep pushing for those and many other needed reforms that will make our state more competitive.”

Will things change for Sanford with the election of state Rep. Bobby Harrell as the new House speaker?

As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Harrell clashed often with the governor.

“I don’t see a change leading to a smooth relationship between the governor and the Legislature,” says Huffmon.

“There certainly won’t be a lot of love in that room.”