When Tuition Freezes Over

posted by Josh Goodman

Here's a hot issue in states: college tuition freezes.

Governors O'Malley of Maryland, Gregoire of Washington, Rell of Connecticut, Pawlenty of Minnesota and Schweitzer of Montana all have proposed freezing college costs in place at some or all state institutions. Lawmakers in Ohio and Texas are looking at the idea too.

It's no mystery why policymakers are making these proposals now. Tuition rates at public colleges and universities have greatly outpaced inflation in recent years. Many students have seen their bills go up by 10% or more in a single year, then rise by a similar amount again the next. Financial accessibility has long been a hallmark of public higher education in the United States, but, more and more, that's being called into doubt.

Elected officials would do well, however, to understand the root cause of these tuition increases: elected officials.

Huckabee STOPS by The Daily Show

posted by Zach Patton

To promote his new book, From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPs to Restoring America's Greatness, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee went on The Daily Show earlier this week. 

Huckabee was affable and funny, and the Daily Show audience (which, let's face it, isn't prone to like a self-described conservative, Evangelical Republican) really seemed to like him.

Here's Part 1 of the interview.  Part 2 is after the jump.

Wholely Crist

posted by Zach Patton

You've probably seen the headlines about Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's website typo, in which his staff accidentally labeled the governor's leadership group as "The Christ Team":

Fla. gov's staff fixes 'Christ' typo

Christ's, er, Crist's staff quickly fixes Web page typo

Gov. Crist given higher title, but just for a minute

But the best headline of the day -- by far -- is in the Miami Herald:

For Crist's sake, get the 'h' out

What Goes 'Rounds...

posted by Josh Goodman

Everyone's glad to hear that South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson is feeling better, but a few people are probably especially relieved: his family, his fellow Senate Democrats and Republican Governor Michael Rounds.

Rounds is the man who would have had to chose a replacement if Johnson had died or was incapacitated, with control of the Senate depending on the partisan preference of his selection. In other words, Rounds would have been stuck deciding between choosing a Democrat, and earning the ire of his party, or choosing a Republican, and being accused of using a personal tragedy for partisan gain.

But there's more going on than just that. According to D.C. insiders like WashingtonPost.com's Chris Cillizza and Roll Call, there's widespread speculation in Republican circles that Rounds will run for Johnson's Senate seat in 2008. That ambition, though, would have been complicated mightily if Rounds had to choose Johnson's replacement.

Just think what his dicey options would have been.

STOP It Already

posted by Alan Greenblatt

I read outgoing Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's book about weight loss when I was writing a story for Congressional Quarterly about his having shed 110 pounds. In it, Huckabee outlined a "12-STOP" program for ending bad habits and picking up healthy ones. Much of the advice seemed sound.

I see that Huckabee is taking the idea of running for president seriously, since I've just received his obligatory new book, From Hope to Higher Ground. Even though the book is about large societal issues, Huckabee clearly still is thinking inside the self-improvement mindset.

The subtitle of the new book is "12 STOPs to Restoring America's Greatness," including "STOP Robbing the Taxpayers," "STOP Abusing Our Planet" and "STOP the Revenge-Based Criminal Justice System."

For some reason, I don't see this book knocking Barack Obama from the top of the bestseller lists.

Give Us Back Our Po Biddy Crossroads!

posted by Zach Patton

Last year, the Georgia DOT cleaned up its map of the state by deleting nearly 500 tiny communities from the map. The cities, predictably, were up in arms.

Now, Gov. Sonny Perdue has weighed in with a letter to the state's DOT chief, urging the DOT to add the towns back to the map:

"I myself have heard firsthand from Georgians about their concerns regarding the economic and societal impact the state's actions will have on small communities."

The DOT says it's going to re-instate the towns on the map, or at least those with distinct ZIP codes.

The moral: Don't mess with Po Biddy Crossroads!

Legislatures: Who's Really in Charge?

posted by Josh Goodman

Which party, Democratic or Republican, has more power in our brand-new state governments? That simple-sounding question is actually much more complicated than at first blush, but, if you can tolerate a little bit of math, I'll do my best to explain.

The raw numbers show that Democrats have 28 of 50 governorships (56%) and 3989 of 7382 legislative seats (54%). But those numbers treat Wyoming's (pop. 515,000) governorship as just as important as California's (pop. 36,458,000) and each member of the New Hampshire House (who on average represent about 3,300 people) as no different from members of the Texas Senate (representing 758,000 each).

With all apologies to Wyoming and New Hampshire, I don't think that makes a lot of sense, so I prefer to adjust for population. Democratic governors are in charge in states with about 161 million people or 54% of the U.S. population. That's a giant reversal from prior to the November elections, when Republican executives governed 188 million people or 63%. However, you only have to go back to early 2003, before the recall that booted Gray Davis from office in California, to get to the last time Democrats had the population edge.

Legislatures are a bit more complicated, but here's the method I think works best: Each legislative house should count for half the state's population.

McGreevey Gets Painted, Too

posted by Zach Patton

Speaking of gubernatorial portraits, New Jersey finally got around to hanging a portrait of former Gov. James McGreevey, who in 2004 resigned in disgrace after admitting to a hiring scandal. (Oh yeah, he's also gay.)

The painting was all set to go last summer, but McGreevey had to postpone its unveiling because he was too busy with his book tour.

The portrait was finally unveiled today in a small, private ceremony at the state Capitol, the first time McGreevey has returned to the Statehouse since he left office more than two years ago.

The delay in hanging the painting also delayed the hanging of the official portrait of McGreevey's successor (and a Governing Public Official of the Year for 2006), Richard Codey. Looks like that portrait may be hung later this month.

(Btw, that's not the portrait over there.  It's just a photo of McGreevey.  But if the artist is any good, well, you know, it'll look similar.)

By the Book (and BlackBerry)

posted by Zach Patton

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush handed the reins over to Charlie Crist at noon today.

But there's one piece of Bushiana we didn't want to leave unnoticed.

Jeb's official portrait contains a few noteworthy features in addition to his smiling mug. The painting, unveiled a couple weeks ago, also includes a photo of Bush's family, several books, including the Bible, and Bush's BlackBerry, a nod to his prodigious email use.

Besides the Hordes of Adoring Fans, I Mean

What do Angelina Jolie, Madonna and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman have in common?

Transcontinental love.