The road out of the political wilderness for Democrats could wind through 12 Republican-leaning states that are run by Democratic governors.

There are 12 States with Democratic governors in GOP states:

Arizona,
Iowa,
Kansas,
Louisiana,
Montana,
New Mexico,
North Carolina,
Oklahoma,
Tennessee,
Virginia.
West Virginia, and
Wyoming.

There are 10 Democratic governors states won by Sen. John Kerry:

Delaware,
Illinois,
Maine,
Michigan,
New Hampshire,
New Jersey,
Oregon,
Pennsylvania,
Washington, and
Wisconsin.

What do the Governors in the first group say?

Governors hope to guide Democratic party

By Ron Fournier
The Associated Press
01-18-05

The road out of the political wilderness, if there is one for Democrats, could wind through Kansas and 11 other Republican-leaning states that are run by Democratic governors.

These are places where bipartisanship and moderation reign, liberal orthodoxies perish, GOP ideas flourish and the politically charged buzzword "values" means more than gays, guns and God.

As President Bush is sworn in for a second term Thursday, these "red-state" Democratic governors are anything but blue. Perhaps it's the virtue of necessity.

"I always start with the premise that if I get 100 percent of Democrats to vote for me, I still lose big time," said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat trying to squeeze her third-year agenda through a legislature dominated 2-1 by Republicans.

"You never get the luxury of saying, `I'll just mobilize my political base,'" she said. "You always look for ways to connect with people other than through party identification."

Sebelius and 11 other Democratic governors have found ways to appeal to voters in states won by Bush. Some practice down-home populism. Others craft no-nonsense CEO images. They push moderate Democratic policies or borrow GOP ideas and, above all, reject the partisanship of Washington.

They've cracked the code. Knowing how to beat Republicans on their own turf, Democratic governors consider themselves the future of a party adrift, a party with two consecutive presidential defeats, dwindling minorities in Congress and uneven leadership in Washington.

They say a key to their success is convincing voters, through their policies and personalities, that they are "one of them." Democrats in middle America must be viewed as part of a state's cultural fabric, clearly distinguishable from the national party in Washington.

"There are a few Democrats — you know who they are, Teddy Kennedy and Hillary Clinton — who Republicans like to tie around our necks, and they are universally disliked in places like Oklahoma," Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said. "They have a reputation of being ultraliberal, and it filters down on us."

One way Democratic governors avoid the liberal-by-association label is by breaking party conventions.

Tennessee's Phil Bredesen eliminated a program in Al Gore's home state that was supposed to be the first step toward universal health care. Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Janet Napolitano of Arizona want to cut taxes.

After Napolitano proposed tax cuts for businesses last week, Republican state Senate President Ken Bennett joked, "We're checking to see if she has re-registered as a Republican yet."

It's not a laughing matter in Washington, where some Democrats say it's easy to throw potshots from state capitals.

"It's certainly true that we have a talented group of democratic governors who have plenty to teach us here in Washington," said Democratic consultant Jim Jordan, former campaign manager for Bush rival Sen. John Kerry. "But it's also true that they have the luxury of running their campaigns entirely on domestic issues, avoiding altogether the issues of war and peace and national security that are so difficult for Democrats on the federal level."

The source of Oklahoman Henry's concern, Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, argued in a speech last week that Democrats can't succeed "under pale colors and timid voices." Former presidential candidate Howard Dean called talk of values "a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe."

Not so, say the governors. They argue that there are smarter ways to handle the values debate than "appeasing the left-wing fringe," a phrase used by one governor who asked not to be identified.

Their strategy:

• Adopt the GOP position on social issues whenever possible.

• Expand the term "values" to include education, health care and other traditionally Democratic issues, along with a candidate's own biography and character traits.

Brian Schweitzer, the new governor of Montana, supports abortion rights. But he is also an avid hunter who fits comfortably into the state's culture.

"When you're a Democrat in Montana, the only kind of gun control you support is this one: You control your gun and I'll control mine," Schweitzer said.

From the way he greets people ("How you doin' Cowboy?) to his background (a farmer-rancher and grandson of Montana homesteaders), Schweitzer casts himself as a close-to-the ground populist who shares the values of voters.

"When we talked about values, we talked about rebuilding families in Montana," he said.

"How do you rebuild families? We make health care affordable. How do we rebuild families? We make it so their children can find jobs and raise their grandchildren in Montana. How do we do that? We start by rebuilding the education system."

Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia opposes abortion, gun control and gay marriage. But he says those aren't the only values that matter.

"People are going to evaluate you as a person, and that's what counts," said Manchin, who became governor this week.
Clearly, it's in the eye of the beholder.

"To me, values means responsibility, opportunity and security," said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. "And I can tie every policy, every program, that we do into one of those values."

Kerry, a New England sophisticate, couldn't connect with many voters despite their misgivings about Bush's Iraq and economic policies. The president's victory suggests that leadership skills and traits such as decisiveness are values — especially in wartime.

In Kansas, Sebelius supports abortion rights, doesn't think the state needs a gay marriage ban and opposed a concealed-weapons proposal. But she won't fight the GOP on gay marriage and supports giving retired police officers concealed weapons.

"Successful Democrats in recent history, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, came out of environments where they had to balance interests, where they had to talk in something other than dogmatic speak and weren't appeasing the special interest groups," Sebelius said.

"They were trying to reach out to real America."