Best/Worst

Time magazine just did an article on the nation's best governors. They also did a little side note on the worst governors. Guess who made the top of the list:

BobTaft of Ohio
" The only thing more stunning than the spectacle of a quivering, hangdog Ohio Governor pleading no contest in August to criminal charges is the fact that he is still in office. Bob Taft, the Republican great-grandson of a U.S. President and son of a Senator, could have received a two-year jail term for failing to report, as state law requires, 47 golf outings paid for by others, but a municipal-court judge let him walk after slapping him with a $4,000 fine. Taft has since ignored thunderous demands for his resignation, even from many onetime allies.
The Governor was widely considered an inept, ineffective leader even before he ran afoul of the law. As Ohio's manufacturing economy shriveled, his most identifiable initiative was a minuscule literacy campaign. The worst may lie ahead for Taft, who has 14 months remaining in his term. He faces a lawsuit alleging that he and other state G.O.P. officeholders awarded generous public contracts to campaign contributors."

Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana
" Failures aren't born. They're made. Before Hurricane Katrina, it wasn't the job of Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to plan for the evacuation of the elderly and poor from New Orleans. Afterward, she wasn't in charge of the federal response. But it was her job to give her constituents heart by looking decisive, steadfast and capable. Even if she wasn't.
When it mattered most, Blanco appeared "dazed and confused," says Bernie Pinsonat, a bipartisan political consultant in Baton Rouge, La. When NBC's Matt Lauer asked her whether it was hard to find words to reassure the public, she tried to muster optimism, then circled back to despair. "You know, our people out here are so fearful. They're so worried ... It's a nightmare."
The public might have forgiven her. But, Pinsonat says, "you've got to convince them you're in control." Instead, Blanco waited seven weeks to appoint a recovery commission. She was slow to call the legislature back into session to deal with a nearly $1 billion decline in tax revenue. Her suggested cuts--to education and health care--came under fire last week as unrealistic. In 21 years in state politics, Blanco, a Democrat, was always cautious and deliberative. But those qualities have turned into liabilities."

Mark Sanford of South Carolina made the bottom of the three, credit where credit is due.

Thanks to Leon for this one.