Governors & Presidential Politics
On Saturday, Leo Brown discussed the notion of 'opportunity states' where Democrats could look to win back the presidency in 2008. He looked at a number of important factors.
To me, it's also important to consider the role of governors. After all, four of the last five presidents were governors - and George W. Bush wouldn't be president today if it hadn't been for the tremendous success of GOP governors in key states in the middle 1990s.
Well, if having popular governors in key states is a predicate for winning the presidency, take a look at this map:
That's right. That's the map of states where there are Democratic governors in states won by Bush in 2004.
And they're very popular. As I mentioned in May, the Survey USA poll of gubernatorial popularity found that every Blue governor of a Red state is more popular than every Blue governor of a Blue state. (I'm still baffled by that, but there you have it.)
Of course, by 2008, we should have the governorships of Nevada and Colorado in hand too, right? Bring it on.
Kari Chisholm | July 12, 2005 | Comment on This Post (3 so far) |
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I hate to break the news, but the only reason there's a Dem. Governor in Oklahoma is because he hasn't changed parties yet and because he's bringing our education system back up to par. Oklahoma will never be a blue state but we'll have Dem. Governors like Henry any time of the day. I'm certainly voting for him next year. My mother and father have been school teachers for 30 years and they're finally getting the raises and funding they've always needed. Of course we're voting Democrat.
You want a winning strategy for the Dems? Get rid of Howlin' Howard Dean, support the Commander-In-Chief and stop crying about every little thing that succeeds that you guys had no hand in planning. The fist thing you'll want is for the GOP to support a Democratic President. I'll support him no matter what, but not standing behind ours isn't gonna make it any easier for you guys.
Howard Dean is shooting down every chance you guys have in '08.
Posted by: Republican Vet | Jul 12, 2005 6:56:58 AM
Given the importance of vote counting and the fact that the Secretary of State is often the state officer charged with this responsibility, we ought to look at that office as well. Remember Florida and Ohio! See http://www.alternet.org/story/23368/ for a recent piece on Ohio.
Posted by: Leo Brown | Jul 12, 2005 3:42:02 PM
I think one of the main reasons why Democratic governors of Red states are as popular as they are is because they have to reach out to more conservative voters in a way that Dem governors in Blue states don't. I think the same is true for Republican governors in Blue states; Tommy Thompson, Tom Ridge, and John Rowland were certainly a lot more moderate as governors than the Republican political profile today.
Living in Arizona, I've seen this firsthand; for years Janet Napolitano has been crafting a moderate-to-conservative image on the issues. As a result, indepenents and many Republicans like her, Dems are just happy to have one of their own in office, and Republican politicians have left skid marks in their efforts to back away from challenging her in the next election. It's a formula that Bill Clinton mastered during his presidency, and it's one that Dems will probably have to master barring some sort of progressive tide.
And it would be easier to take "RepublicanVet"'s advice seriously if it wasn't so easy to make the same accusations about the GOP in the 1990s. Or was that a third party whining about the deficit reducation measures and the interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo back then?
Posted by: Mark K. | Jul 13, 2005 9:52:05 AM
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(and yes, we know that sometimes they're very, very wrong. Other times, they're right on.)
