And the Winner Is...Governor predictions.

National Review Online ^ | November 1, 2002 | Stephen Moore

[xsysmgr]

With nearly the entire media spotlight focused on the race for the control of Congress, little attention is being paid to the governors races this year. This year there are 36 of them, and many of them are nail-biters.

Arguably, the three most-important elections on November 5 will be the gubernatorial races in California, Florida, New York, and Texas. The GOP will win three of four and maybe all four! And since governors can actually do things — cut taxes, launch welfare, fix the schools, muzzle the trial lawyers, balance the budget — these are powerful public figures that have a profound impact on policy.

The GOP has had majority control of the governorships since the grand conservative landslide election of 1994. That's likely to shift back to the Democrats after Tuesday. But what is exciting is that four or five real conservative policy pioneers are going to win on Tuesday and then push through dramatic free-market changes in their states. Case in point: Mark Sanford of South Carolina wants to abolish the South Carolina income tax. Name a member of Congress who has a big idea like that.

So without further ado, here's my smart-aleck assessment of many of the hottest races:

Alaska: Frank Murkowski wins back Alaska for the GOP. This will be a boost for drilling in ANWAR.

Arizona: Matt Salmon is down in the polls, but still has a good shot at winning. Salmon is a free marketer who loathes big government and bureaucracy. Janet Napolitano, the Democrat, is bosom buddies with the trial lawyers. She represented Anita Hill. She's bad news.

California: Call me a hopeless romantic, but I still think that Bill Simon has a shot at besting Gray Doofus. Doofus has approval ratings in the 40s, which is dreadful for an incumbent.

Colorado: Bill Owens, America's best governor, wins in a landslide and preps for a seat on the GOP ticket in '08.

Florida: Don't believe the hype. Jeb wins easily. How about Bush-Owens in '08, or vice versa?

Georgia: Roy Barnes is my favorite Democrat. He should win, continuing the GOP's 150-year lockout of the governors' mansion.

Hawaii: Sakes alive, Hawaii goes Republican! But Linda Lingle is no conservative.

Illinois: Republicans lose. What a relief. The brain-dead Illinois Republicans are out of power. Now they can spend the next four years thinking about all the things they did wrong.

Kansas: The Dems will likely win here because the backstabbing liberal Republicans (read: Bill Graves and co.) would rather have a liberal Democrat in office than a conservative Republican. So much for the big tent!

Maryland: Ehrlich wins. KKT turns into TNT.

Michigan: Dems win. Thank God that Jennifer Granholm is a Canadian, or she would be running for president next.

Nevada: Safe Republican — can we put the nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain?

New York: Hopefully the Dems finish in third place. Let's also hope Pataki's third term is more like his first when he was cutting taxes, not his second, when he was raising them.

Ohio: Taft wins. But he is still one of America's worst governors.

Oklahoma: Now let's see what Steve Largent can really do!

Pennsylvania: Rendell wins. Okay, Pennsylvanians, hold on to your guns and your wallets. The governor's coming after both.

South Carolina: Mark Sanford wins and becomes this generation's Tommy Thompson.

Tennessee: This one's a toss pup, but my crippled dog could do a better job as governor than Don Sundquist.

Texas: Did you really think that George W. Bush would let the Democrats win his home state? To quote papa Bush: "Not gonna happen."

— Stephen Moore is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and president of the Club for Growth.

[gubamyster]

California: Call me a hopeless romantic, but I still think that Bill Simon has a shot at besting Gray Doofus. Doofus has approval ratings in the 40s, which is dreadful for an incumbent.

[eureka!]

Hehehehehe....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good one!

Memories:

California Power Crisis animations featuring Governor Gray Davis

AND......................

...to see what bad, bad things Davis has done... - CLICK HERE

calgov2002:

calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. 

calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. 

Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register

[Solson]

They forgot MN where the GOP is leading and will win.

[NormsRevenge]

In the words of that great philosopher... Alfred E. Neuman

"Who? Me, Worry?"

November 6th, without the support of his own party leadership for the most part and a media that would dump on Mother Teresa if they deemed it prudent to do so to elect liebrals, Bill Simon will be able to smile into the cameras, wink, and say ..

"You've been Simonized!"

Keep the Faith and GOTV!!!

[Doctor Stochastic]

They also forgot NM where Sanchez is going to lose big to Richardson.

[kellynla]

Smart money is on Davis being Simonized on Tuesday.

[mwl1]

I wrote to Stephen Moore this morning... note start of 2nd paragraph: the three most important races are the gubernatorial races in FL, NY, TX, and CA...

Last time I counted that was four races.

Very sloppy.

[Gophack]

Go Simon!

BTW, anyone from Colorado? Is Bill Owens as good as NRO says?

[wjcsux]

Didn't see NM listed. I am afraid we are going to get that sorry RAT Richardson win this one. We have a big problem w/ dead voters and illegals here in NM. It is a real shame because John Sanchez is a good guy and a pro-life fiscal conservative as well.

[kellynla]

correctomundo...and we can only hope and pray that the GOP runs the table on Tuesday...

[Coop]

Arguably, the three most-important elections on November 5 will be the gubernatorial races in California, Florida, New York, and Texas.

Based on their counting skills, I'm a little leery of these predictions... :-p

[Nancie]

RI not listed either. I posted the following on another thread earlier today. Race is between Myrth York (D) and Don Carcieri (R)
-----
York will lose. Dems will **NOT** get a pick-up for governor from RI.

I watched Carcieri last nite on a local PBS show w/ local media--York refused to come. (word is that she didn't want to be asked about where her money comes from--an issue in the past few weeks) It was a roundatable w/ the Journal's top political columnist, Charlie Bakst, plus a TV commentator, and one of the local talk show hosts. It was amazing to watch. The relaxed confidence coming from Carcieri and the post-election attitude of all of them was stunning. Carceiri was engaging, relaxed, talking about the state budget and what needs to be done, but he talked as if he were the governor-elect instead of a candidate. Bakst, too, treated him as if his win was a sure thing. Bakst pushed Carcieri about his internal polls and he said he was up by 10.

Then this morning on one of the local talk shows, again there was this sense of the race being all over. Carcieri called in and was chatty and relaxed. He was asked about his coming win, but of course he deferred. York was also called but she hadn't returned calls. The conversation easily moved to all the mistakes York made. Buddy Cianci, who's the best when it comes to RI politics, said one of York's big mistakes was going so negative on Carcieri w/ over-the-top accusations. He said this bad advice from York's consultant was a disaster.

Wait till you hear this. York's consultant is Mandy Grunwald.

[SamAdams76]

They forgot about Massachusetts too and Romney (R) is virtually neck-and-neck with Shannon O-Brien (S). If Romney can pull it out, it will be the fourth straight GOP gubernatorial win for the Bay State (and you thought we were all socialists around here). A Socialist hasn't won the governorship here since Mike Dukakis (remember him?) back in 1986.

[Snuffington]

They forgot MN where the GOP is leading and will win.

Right you are. Not only leading, but doing so in the Star-Tribune poll which notoriously oversamples Democrats.

[Digger]

A Bush-Owens in 2008? Aren't there anyone else but the Bushes, Clintons or Doles? Answer- probably not when your government is an oligarchy & the "Two-Party Cartel" is a charade controlled soley by the elites.

[SwinneySwitch]

Right you are. Not only leading, but doing so in the Star-Tribune poll which notoriously oversamples Democrats.

Is this were Mondulls poll numbers came from?

[SwinneySwitch]

Right you are. Not only leading, but doing so in the Star-Tribune poll which notoriously oversamples Democrats.

Is this were Mondulls poll numbers came from?

[EllaMinnow]

Good Florida AND Arizona news!