Lexington

摘要

It is only natural, come election time, for eyes to focus on the nation's capital. Yet some things happened this week in out-of-the-way places like Springfield, Illinois and Santa Fe, New Mexico that will temper the pain of the Democrats over their bleak performance in Congress. The quaint governors' mansions that the Democrats picked up may seem small consolation for the marble halls of Capitol Hill. But wait a while. Governors have much power to change the American political landscape, even beyond their own states' borders. Even if they lose Alabama (still undecided as The Economist went to press), the Democrats have made a net gain of three governorships. That was less than they expected (who would have imagined that they would lose Georgia or Maryland?). But they have picked up four big industrial states―Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They hung on to California, despite an unpopular incumbent. And they grabbed Arizona, a state that voted heavily for George Bush in 2000. Altogether the proportion of Americans living under Republican governors has shrunk from 70% in 1994 to only 46% today.