NYT: For Governors in G.O.P. Slots, a Liberal Turn

For Governors in G.O.P. Slots, a Liberal Turn
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Published: September 20, 2006

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 — Here are the things that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be bragging about on the campaign trail: an initiative to lower greenhouse gases with the onus on big companies, a $1 increase in the state’s minimum wage and a program to open up access to prescription drugs.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, who six months ago fashioned himself a Republican reformer bent on hobbling entrenched Democratic institutions, is not just tolerating positions generally associated with liberal candidates. Rather, he is using them as the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, marking the first time in a generation that a Republican governor here has clung to the left during a re-election fight.

The strategy is not unique to Mr. Schwarzenegger’s campaign. Across the nation’s 36 races for governor, Republican candidates in states heavy with moderate or Democratic voters are playing up their liberal positions on issues including stem cell research, abortion and the environment, while remaining true to their party’s platform on taxes and streamlining government.

In Massachusetts, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who is seeking to fill the seat that will be vacated by Gov. Mitt Romney, has openly split with Mr. Romney on abortion rights and stem cell research; her views are shared by the Republican candidate for governor in Illinois, Judy Baar Topinka, who also supports civil unions for same-sex couples.

In Maryland, the Republican incumbent, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., is pushing for increasing state aid for programs for the disabled and imposing tighter restrictions on coal-fired plants; the Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, opposes the death penalty. In Connecticut, Gov. M. Jodi Rell also parts ways with the Republican Party on civil unions and financing for stem cell research....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/20/us/politics/20centrists.html?hp&ex=1158811200&en=29c461c13294d41a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

"re-elect" George W. Bush....with Bush standing behind him!

This is an opposition add.....playing on all of the channels, over and over again. They are pretty effective!

that being if these complete RINOs completely forsake the GOP line and get elected, then the RW fundies have a neverending stream of fodder for their rants. The GOP in effect becomes its own source of fuel for the fundies, their most loyal group.