Democratic Governors to Use New Power

Outgoing Democratic Governors Association (DGA) Chair Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico speaks at a press conference at the DGA meeting Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, in Washington. Richardson is ending his two terms as DGA chairman, while weighing a bid for the presidency in 2008. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) (Nick Wass - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Democratic governors who will take over the majority of state capitols plan to use their newfound power to make changes and help put their party back in the White House.

Some of the governors who have won in Republican-leaning states say it will be difficult for a Democratic presidential candidate to prevail on their turf despite their own success. But at least two Democratic governors considering seeking the nomination have an interest in turning state victories into a national one in 2008.

"There's a shift in power and that means that the American people are seeing governors as the instrument of change," said New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the outgoing chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

His staff circulated a memo noting that states with Democratic governors went from 207 electoral votes to 295 while Richardson led the group. The magic number to win the presidency is 270.

Richardson, who said he has lost 25 pounds as he considers a presidential run, and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack were chummy at a news conference to wrap up a postelection meeting in Washington.

But with Vilsack the first of what promises to be many declared Democratic candidates for president, they could be rivals in the primary contest. Richardson told an audience at Georgetown University Thursday that he will decide in January whether to run.

The Democratic governors' national prospects have spiked from 2004, when no sitting Democratic governors was in the hunt for the White House. Besides Richardson and Vilsack, several others might be considered for the vice presidency because of their proven appeal in GOP-leaning states.

"The framework is in place, I think, to elect a Democratic president," said Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who is taking over leadership of the governors' group in 2007. She noted that 54 percent of people in the U.S. will live in states with a Democratic governor next year.

Sebelius and Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Brian Schweitzer of Montana and Phil Bredesen of Tennessee all have been discussed as potential presidential candidates because they have won where other Democrats could not. All four said Wednesday that they were not going to run for president in 2008, but none ruled out a bid down the road.

Bredesen did say he "would love to be considered" if there were a movement for a Southern governor like him, but he is doing nothing to prepare or promote himself.

Schweitzer, who stood out in the crowd with his bolo tie and penchant for greeting a stranger as "cowgirl," hopes to make a name for himself by focusing on energy independence.

"This place," he said dismissively, gesturing around the hotel lobby where the governors were meeting. "Washington, D.C., is as if everyone has their feet in concrete. OK, the Democrats take back the Senate and the House. Boy, big things are happening. All that's really happening here is that people have to hire some Democratic lobbyists. It just swings the ball back and forth as if it's a big game. And it's not a big game. This is about families across America sending the next generation to secure an oil supply for another dictator."