Los Angeles Times
Jerry Brown has fashioned a career alone on the cutting edge of politics, but as he looks ahead to 2010, the California attorney general finds himself in the midst of an unusual pack: former governors eyeing a return to their old jobs.
At least four, and perhaps as many as six, ex-governors may be on the ballot around the country next year, a pattern apparently without precedent or any clear-cut explanation, beyond the fact that few jobs in American politics beat the chance to run your own state, even in these difficult times.
"It just makes me sick, thinking, 'I know I could do this better,' " said Iowa's former Republican governor Terry Branstad, who is returning to politics to seek a fifth term after more than 10 years away.
The trend seems odd at a time of fierce anti-incumbent sentiment, manifested in the dismal approval ratings for Congress, state legislatures and lawmakers across the country. Now hardly seems the moment for a renaissance of the career politician. But the tough times also make for a contrast, allowing these comeback candidates -- in California, Georgia, Iowa and Oregon -- to tout the days when they were in charge.
"Recycling old politicians is not a good message," said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan campaign analyst. "But bringing back somebody who governed when times were good, that's a whole different ballgame."
Analysts who follow statehouse races say it is not unusual, every now and again, for an ex-governor to try to win his old job back. Among those who did: Bill Clinton, who lost his first re-election bid in 1980, then returned, humbled, to spend 10 years as Arkansas governor before becoming president.
None of those experts, however, can remember an election cycle when so many former governors have run at the same time. Along with Brown and Branstad, Democrats Roy Barnes of Georgia and John Kitzhaber of Oregon are seeking return engagements. After a single term, Barnes lost re-election in one of the biggest political upsets of 2002. Kitzhaber, elected twice, left office in 2003 when term limits prevented him from serving a third consecutive time. Brown, Branstad and Kitzhaber all start as the front-runner in their respective contests.
