Future of GOP rests in the hands of the governors

The Washington Post published a must-read article detailing how governors will lead the Republican resurgence in 2010. Excerpt below:

“It is increasingly clear that the future of the GOP rests in the hands of the Republican governors.

The ranks of the Republican governors and former governors include savvy older pros, some celebrities, the biggest crop of prospective 2012 presidential candidates, bright young leaders on the rise and the possibility of enhancements to their ranks after the 2010 midterm elections that will draw even more attention to their work in the states.

The last time Republicans rose from the ashes… the intellectual ballast came from the ranks of the governors, who already had proved to be the policy innovators…

If Republicans win a considerable number of seats in 2010, they will rely even more on governors to provide the policy and political leadership necessary to make the party competitive once again in a presidential election.

Haley Barbour is the one thread of continuity between the Republicans’ restoration of 1994 and their comeback hopes in 2010. Then he was chairman of the Republican National Committee; today he is in his second term as governor of Mississippi and is chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

In 1993-94, he was a shrewd but mostly behind-the-scenes player to Gingrich’s out-front leadership role in the midterm elections that drove Democrats from power. Today, he is front and center as a spokesman, strategist, fundraiser and counselor, looked to by congressional leaders and other governors for leadership in challenging the Democrats. They do not underestimate him as a formidable adversary.

The other older pro is Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. He is the northern wing of the axis of experience the Republicans have within the gubernatorial ranks. Like Barbour, he is a former White House political director. Like Barbour, he is well-grounded in policy, having served as budget director in President George W. Bush’s White House.

If Barbour and Daniels form the ranks of old pros, there are young pros rising within the ranks. The youngest is Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has been on a fast track all his adult life… Jindal has a considerable intellect and a command of many of the policy issues that will be front and center in the next few years, including health care and energy…

Farther north is Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who is finishing his second term as governor while still in his late 40s. He is a conservative from a blue-collar family and narrowly won two tough elections in a state partial to Democrats…

By this time next year, Republicans may have new governors in some of the nation’s biggest states. GOP leaders are bullish about the prospects of state attorney general Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania, where Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell is term-limited. They see John Kasich, the former chairman of the House Budget Committee, as a threat to Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in Ohio. In California, Republicans have a three-way primary underway with the winner likely to face Edmund G. ‘Jerry’ Brown, the former governor and current attorney general, in November. Former eBay chairman Meg Whitman is the best known among the GOP contenders and a potential national figure if she gets elected.”