NYT - Republican governors support Obama

[IDemo]

States' chief execs become allies of president, as others in G.O.P. spurn him

By Jackie Calmes
updated 12:43 a.m. MT, Tues., Feb. 17, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Obama must wish governors could vote in Congress: While just three of the 219 Republican lawmakers backed the $787 billion economic recovery plan that he is signing into law on Tuesday, that trifling total would have been several times greater if support among the 22 Republican state executives counted.

The contrast reflects the two faces of the Republican Party these days.

Leaderless after losing the White House, the party is mostly defined by its Congressional wing, which flaunted its anti-spending ideology in opposing the stimulus package. That militancy drew the mockery of late-night television comics, but the praise of conservative talk-show stars and the party faithful.

In the states, meanwhile, many Republican governors are practicing a pragmatic — their Congressional counterparts would say less-principled — conservatism.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29230543/

"Pragmatic Conservatism"? Is that what they call backing away from the cold, dead body of Raygun?

[Jennicut]

1. The governors know that the state budgets are a mess

and are desperate for help.

[Captain Hilts]

2. They want stimulus cash to prevent state-level tax increases. nt