Polarizing the governor's race

There was an insightful article on Governing Magazine's blog a couple days back. Josh Goodman wrote that the nation isn't really polarized. National journalists just think it is. "If I had to listen to national political operatives scream at each other all day, I probably would think so too. Once you accept the polarization frame, it becomes easy to apply it to states, congressional districts or anything else. But, if people would simply look beyond the federal arena, they would see a very different picture. Although state campaigns can unquestionably get nasty, there is a spirit of pragmatism in state government that is not seen at the federal level. Governors such as Mark Warner and Mike Huckabee have worked successfully with legislatures controlled by the opposite party. Republicans such as Bill Owens of Colorado have supported tax increases, while Democrats like Phil Bredesen of Tennessee have enacted cuts in social programs."

At the risk of being part of the problem, I will point out that Goodman put his finger on why Colorado shouldn't elect Bob Beauprez. He brings with him the habits he has picked up in DC over the past term. Habits like hiring out-of-state fundamentalists to run his campaign.

Meanwhile, Republican Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney doesn't have high hopes for Republican governors in 2006. The Washington Post reports that Romney "emphasized he's no political forecaster. But based on what he's been told by other Republican analysts, he said, if conventional expectations are borne out, the Republicans could lose three to six governorships."

Those states include Maryland, Florida, Arkansas, Nevada and, of course, Colorado.