WE Blog

Most of the Democrats eyeing the White House in 2008 are members of Congress. But if the party heeds recent history and realizes that lawmakers have too much of a vote paper trail and too little executive experience, it will go with a Democratic governor, a la Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Iowa’s Tom Vilsack and New Mexico’s Bill Richardson (in photo) are among the perceived contenders, but they aren’t among the most popular Democratic governors, according to the latest SurveyUSA poll. Those are West Virginia’s Joe Manchin (75 percent approval), Montana’s Brian Schweitzer (74 percent), Wyoming’s Dave Freudenthal (68 percent), Oklahoma’s Brad Henry (67 percent) and New Hampshire’s John Lynch (66 percent). (Kansas’ Kathleen Sebelius comes close, with 59 percent, which is what Richardson got, too.) Maybe some of these guys have disqualifying characteristics — like Michigan’s Jennifer Granholm, born in Canada (but also at 40 percent) — but if Democrats want to win, going to the states seems to make more sense than going back to the poisonous congressional well.
Posted by Rhonda Holman