WHOLE LOTTA GOVERNORS UNPOPULAR-- BUT NONE AS MUCH AS TAFT, MURKOWSKI AND FLETCHER

According to the latest SurveyUSA polling data on governors, there are 14 governors whose disapproval ratings are higher than their approval ratings, including several who are up for re-election, like Rick Perry (R-TX), Rod Blagojevich (D-IL), John Baldacci (D-ME), Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), although all of those governors have relatively benign net unpopularity ratings which can be cured by election day-- with the possible exception of Schwarzenegger's minus17%. But even Schwarzenegger's disapproval rating is dwarfed by the negativity felt towards Matt Blunt (R-MO), Ernie Fletcher (R-KY), Frank Murkowski (R-AK) and Bob Taft (R-OH) by their respective constituents.

Although Taft may be celebrating that his approval rating has crept back up into the double digits-- I seem to remember a 5% or 8% at one time for this convicted crook-- 78% of Ohioans polled say they disapprove of the job Taft has done as governor. (Interestingly, a totally unrelated poll was published today by the Columbus Dispatch that showed the campaign of Ken Blackwell, Taft's even more crooked Secretary of State and heir apparent, going down in flames. Only 27% of Ohio voters say they are inclined to vote for Blackwell.)

Almost as hated as Taft, is right wing extremist Frank Murkowski of Alaska, where a daunting 76% of voters think he's done a lousy job (2% less terrible than last time). Last month a DailyKos diarist tried explaining why Alaskans, overwhelmingly Republican and conservative, so dislike their governor. One way to look at it, in a nutshell, is that too much time spent Inside-the-Beltway as an integral part of the Republican Culture of Corruption, has Murkowski actually believing that his constituents are the Big Oil companies, not the people of Alaska. Ultra-popular former Alaska Democratic Governor Tony Knowles has challenged Murkowski and is slaughtering him in the polls. This looks like a sure pick-up for the Democrats in November.

Meanwhile, Ernie Fletcher, who is likely to be in prison before the next election, is being pressured from every faction of the Kentucky Republican Party to retire or, at least declare he won't seek re-election (in 2007). A full 66% of his constituents disapprove of the job he's doing and, unfortunately for him, that 66% includes virtually the entire hierarchy of the state GOP, starting with Senator Mitch McConnell. (No one knows what the other Kentucky senator, Jim Bunning, thinks, since he passed away 3 years ago and has been preserved by Washington's most talented taxidermist). The ventriloquist who operates him for the Republican Party, Inc., busy demanding the NY Times be persecuted for treason, hasn't offered any opinions about the Governor's criminal indictments.