Do we hear 'President Sanford?'

ROBERT W. DALTON, Staff Writer

COLUMBIA -- Sen. Glenn Reese says he knows the exact date that Gov. Mark Sanford unofficially announced his plan to run for president in 2008.

It was May 27, 2004.

That's the day Sanford carried two pigs into the Statehouse to gig the Legislature for what he deemed pork spending in the state budget.

That's the same date that Sean Wisnieski, a 19-year-old student at Frederick Community College in Frederick, Md., decided that Sanford should run for the Oval Office.

"As soon as I read about the pigs, I said, 'Oh yeah, he has to be president,' " Wisnieski said.

Wisnieski even put together a Web site, "Draft Mark Sanford for President 2008" (www.draftsanford.cjb.net) -- one of several sites that have appeared on the Internet.

Sanford also is on the political radar of Club for Growth, a Washington-based conservative group that screens and backs candidates. Recent articles in publications such as the "National Review" polish his image as a defender of the taxpayer.

The only one who doesn't seem to be on board is Sanford. He said he's flattered by all of the attention, but that he has no plans to run.

"I'm always careful about never saying never in anything in life," Sanford said. "But it's not something I'm pursuing or something I have an interest in. Have I ruled that out? Yeah, I think my actions obviously speak louder than words, and I'm focused on one thing, and that's the job at hand."

Some of his actions, however, have fanned the flames:

(bullet) There's his penchant for using farm animals -- he also brought a horse and buggy to the Statehouse grounds to emphasize the need to update state government -- to make a point, which Reese, D-Boiling Springs, says is driven by Sanford's quest for national media attention.

(bullet) He met with Club for Growth members during last summer's Republican National Convention in New York City.

(bullet) The first portion of his State of the State speech in January focused on national politics, touching on the war in Iraq and the U.S. economy.

Sanford says people are reading too much into those actions.

The pigs were brought in after 30 pages of budget vetoes failed to get the message across about pork spending, he said.

Sanford said he agreed to speak to the Club for Growth during the convention because they supported his run for governor and because they asked.

And all the talk about the U.S. economy during the State of the State was to drive home the fact that "South Carolina is held hostage by what happens in the national economy."

Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan newsletter based in Washington, said there are three key reasons why Sanford is drawing so much attention.

"One, he's a governor; two, he's a governor; and three, he's a governor," Cook said.

Cook said that sitting senators have trouble as candidates -- the last one to be elected president was John Kennedy -- because they leave a paper trail.

"They either make stupid votes or those that could be made to look stupid," Cook said. "Every single vote is vulnerable to being picked apart.

"More and more political activists and party leaders are aware that senators and House members are going to have a tougher time. That doesn't mean that nominees will only be governors, but there seems to be an inherent advantage."

Adding grist to the political rumor mill is that South Carolina's presidential primary will likely again be a pivotal one, possibly giving Sanford a home-state advantage were he to seek the GOP nomination.

The knock against Sanford is that the Republican governor has had difficulty pushing his big-ticket items through the Republican House and Republican Senate. His plan to reduce the income tax for all South Carolinians was scaled back in the Legislature to a cut for small businesses.

And his controversial school choice plan, now in its fourth version, will be taken up on the House floor for the first time next week.

None of that would matter on a national stage, Cook said.

"Whether someone is truly effective as a governor or not, people in other states would be the last to know," he said. "A voter in the Iowa caucus or the New Hampshire primary is not likely to have the faintest idea how someone did in their last job."

Wisnieski said Sanford's squabbles with the Legislature could actually work in his favor.

"It typifies the problems conservatives are having today," Wisnieski said. "There are people like Sanford who want real change and sellouts who want to block change. I think he can capitalize on it."

Sanford insists all of the talk and all of the words being written are moot.

"A lot of people are running for president. There's a long list of people showing up in South Carolina. If I were running for president, you'd see me showing up in New Hampshire and Iowa. I'm not.

"You can't just think about running for president. There are very tangible things that you've got to be dong. I'm not doing those things."

Wisnieski isn't convinced.

He believes he'll get to put a check by Sanford's name in 2008.

"He's looking at re-election in 2006, so he has to say that," Wisnieski said.

Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.