Governors State Woes on Face the Nation

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels boasts that he doesn't need to use the stimulus money to fill the holes. He's going to save it for rainier days. I'd bet the people of Indiana would beg to differ with him.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland says Honda has asked him to help save the auto industry for the sake of all the industry support jobs.

Democratic governors support stimulus. Republican governors are split:

Three Brave Senators

The three republicans who worked on the stimulus deal struck today: Arlen Spector, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe. Hip hooray for them. Even though just three republicans worked on the bill, a number of republican governors backed it:

NPR: Senate negotiators on the economic stimulus bill say a small but contentious provision to aid states has been partially restored.

The $25 billion "state stabilization fund" had been devised by the House to help states plug holes in their budgets as tax revenues fall. The Senate deleted the fund completely, and governors fought to get it back.

In the Senate, the rap on the fund was its lack of oversight. Last week, budget committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) called it a slush fund, saying, "There's absolutely no strings attached. Governors can use it for any purpose."

But without it, Ohio's Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland said, he'd be looking at "some terrible, terrible choices."

The economy has blown big holes in the Ohio state budget. Strickland gave some examples in an interview: "We believe that perhaps 500 employees in our correctional system would be terminated, that there would be as many as 51,000 Ohioans who would lose mental health services, and that as many as 5,200 mental health providers would lose their jobs."

Obama Needs to Start Pandering

This is a valid request. 
I connect with Obama's hope message and I know his specific plans for the economy, healthcare, education... because I've read all of his documents and books and watched most of the town halls.

But the average person, who doesn't connect with hope and hasn't made it a point to read up on Obama, needs more meat. All they've seen is Obama the celebrity. They don't know why he's popular. They don't connect with the local-global economy message. They don't necessarily care that Europe likes the U.S. 

They need the: What-are-you-going-to-do-for-me details. Obama needs to pander, to roll up his sleeves and pander, pander, pander. He could also use a lot more help from the democrats because Hillary has been countering much of the work Obama is trying to do. Hopefully, after the convention, we won't have to hear about sore Hillary supporters.

I hope her supporters get everything they want at the convention, find catharsis, and move on. I hope it's a moving event for them. 

NYT: These Democrats — 15 governors, members of Congress and state party leaders — say Mr. Obama has yet to convert his popularity among many Americans into solutions to crucial electoral challenges: showing ownership of an issue, like economic stewardship or national security; winning over supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; and minimizing his race and experience level as concerns for voters.

Mr. Obama has run for the last 18 months as the candidate of hope. Yet party leaders — while enthusiastic about Mr. Obama and his state-by-state campaign operations — say he must do more to convince the many undecided Democrats and independents that he would address their financial anxieties rather than run, by and large, as an agent of change — given that change, they note, is not an issue.

“I particularly hope he strengthens his economic message — even Senator Obama can speak more clearly and specifically about the kitchen-table, bread-and-butter issues like high energy costs,” said Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio. “It’s fine to tell people about hope and change, but you have to have plenty of concrete, pragmatic ideas that bring hope and change to life.”

Or, in the blunter words of Gov. Phil Bredesen, Democrat of Tennessee: “Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums, he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives.”