I was talking with Alan Rosenthal, a Rutgers political scientist and author of several books about state government. I raised the idea that governors can come out of this election with greater policy ambitions than in 2002, when they all ran headlong into big budget deficits.
Alan makes a good point in response, and I think the naughty word in question kind of inspired him to riff:
"I think because the budgetary situations are okay, they have some running room. Also, the public isn't pissed at them. The public is too busy being pissed at Bush.
"Maybe the fact that people are so pissed at Bush takes the heat off of governors. They don't give politics enough time to be pissed at the governor as well as the president."
