<p>What US Mayor could possibly be more popular than Detroit’s Hip-Hop Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick?</p>
<p>Every US mayor’s family should be driving around in a fully tricked-out, huge SUV (made by Ford, can’t remember the particular model), paid for with tax dollars.</p>
<p>To my friend from NJ:</p>
<p>The doling out of funds only to (yes i will name the party, as anyone could find out the governors party and probably knows since the former came out of the closet) democrat districts seems to be more mcgreevy than codey. </p>
<p>Codey actually has incredibly high approval ratings right now. He was just offered Corzine’s senate seat, which he unfortunately turned down, and would have won the gubenarotial race had he run. </p>
<p>So I think it is fair to say that we do have a popular governor. A Quinnipiac poll taken on 11/22/05 has Codey with a 68% approval rating. Hell, I’m a Republican and I love the guy.</p>
<p>Maryland - most of us (60+% Democrat state) are very unhappy with our governor, but we love our senators and the leader of our assembly. Next Governor will be either Duncan (Montgomery County - has done a good job here) or O’Malley (mayor of Baltimore - he fits this post because he is popular) - either one is fine by me. I can’t wait for my “Defeat Ehrlich” bumper sticker.</p>
<p>We just had a popular mayor - he retired to replenish his money after about 14 years of service - not everyone liked him, but most think he did a good job, to the point that it was hard to even consider the candidates, none seemed as good for the job as Dow. Our governor has been up and down, but hopefully his performance with Katrina was good enough to hold off Roy Moore - you think you’ve got it bad, think about him as governor - and I’m a church-going Republican! He and Haley Barbour did well, when some other nameless folks did not come off looking too “leader-like”.</p>
<p>I was born in NJ and have lived here on and off for 51 years. I used to be proud of New Jersey - Crossroads of the Revolution, a true melting pot, the birthplace of American Labor, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Frankie Valle, et. al. - but now I’m ashamed to say I’m from New Jersey. The politicians here - mostly Dems but also Republicans - are corrupt and are destroying our economy. Jon Corzine - recently elected Governor - spent $130-MILLION in the last two elections to get elected Senator and Governor. He outspent his opponents by 3 to 1. His claim to fame is that he ran Goldman Sachs (putting many thousands out of work with the mergers they engineered). He gave money to all of the Dem. County Chairmen, to Black Pastors, etc. to buy support. He cheated on his wife, bought his girlfriend, head of the largest public union, in NJ a $400K house just before her union endorsed him. Codey is ok - he’s a long-time hack who doesn’t seem to care much anymore but does care about his family (a good thing). The Mayor of Newark holds that job and the job of State Senator. His wife is on the city payroll. A large number of Republican mayors have been indicted in South Jersey for corruption. I don’t know where we go - I think first we need to eliminate County Government ( they did this in MA). It may be time to move to a Red State.</p>
<p>i dunno, but my city’s and province’s mayor support/play a part in my ECs</p>
<p>Santa Monica has a mayor elected from among the city council but it doesn’t matter much because a lot of power is vested in the city manager.
Across the city line, Antonio Villaraigosa is widely perceived as hot stuff. Ahnold the Guv you already know about.</p>
<p>Chief, I suspect that indeed you might be more at home in South Carolina or Oklahoma.</p>
<p>Recently saw some proposed state mottos for New Jersey license plates. My fave was: “New Jersey: You Got A Problem With That?”</p>
<p>lol… jersey pride</p>
<p>two words… Bob Taft. I’m a conservative Republican and think he’s a joke. I’ll work for Ken Blackwell’s campaign next year; he should be able to undo some of the damage…</p>
<p>^haha. Oh Bob Taft. He’s like the worst governor. I don’t know how he got into the position at all. Not that my mayor is very good either… :p</p>
<p>Our governor should be as passionate about property tax relief and other important government issues as he is about “his” Eagles… ;)</p>
<p>Mayor - hah! I live in small town USA where the mayor runs unopposed every year for the past 10 and gets about 60 votes…</p>
<p>Well, it’s not so chic anymore but I love Arnold! Mainly because I can’t stand the same-old, same-old democratic hacks in this state. In SF, Gavin Newsom is a popular fluff piece.</p>
<p>Our governor has the battle of all battles on his hands over…time zones. I personally like him because I think he’s actually trying to bring Indiana into the 21st century but it is amazing how many people here love the status quo and will fight anyone tooth and nail who dares to suggest any changes.</p>
<p>Side story: when I first moved here 10 years ago, I went to vote for the first time. I didn’t really know much about any of the candidates and being a true-blue born and bred New York liberal, figured I’d just vote for the Democrats. Unfortunately, there weren’t any even listed on the ballot for many of the spots. I swear this is the most republican county in the country!</p>
<p>I’m pretty happy with NY’s public officials. I’m a democrat but Pataki and Bloomberg do a decent job and are basically democrats anyway. Schumer and Clinton are in the news every week, but at least it means lil’ ol’ New York is never neglected in the Senate.</p>
<p>If you want to keep your eyes out for an up and coming politician I’ll give you one:
Thomas Souzzi
He started as a mayor of the city of Glen Cove on Long Island. The Republicans who had been in power for a while said they couldn’t shut down the incinerator that everyone hated because “the contract was signed”. Souzzi got rid of it. After 2 terms here he was elected to head Nassau Country, which had been run into the ground with corruption by the entrenched Republican machine. We are now out of debt, our ratings are up and we’re doing pretty darn well. He just was reelected by a nice margin. He’s thinking of running for Gov. of NY. Keep an eye out for him, he gets things down and is a dynamo. He’s only in his early 40’s and I see him going far.</p>
<p>Yeah, I met Tom Souzzi, he’s going places.</p>
<p>Bill White in Houston…He did a fantastic job managing Katrina and Rita…much better than then NY mayor Gulliani.</p>
<p>Ditto Bill White - he was just reelected with 90% of the vote.</p>