Governors

Marx Brothers fans will recall that the political philosophy of Rufus T. Firefly in "Duck Soup" boiled down to this: "If you think this country's bad off now, just wait 'til I get through with it." I've often considered that to be the secret slogan of Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration. (Just substitute "this state" for "this country.") After Tuesday's election, it's no longer a secret.

As lawmakers wrangled last week over how to plug California's giant deficit, the governor who once called them "girlie men" sent the state Senate leader a package that has some Capitol insiders tsk-tsking over what they see as an ill-timed display of machismo. The gag gift from Gov.

While Mark Sanford works to salvage his marriage, Republicans are facing the prospect of a different kind of breakup: religious voters walking out on the GOP. A series of sex-related scandals over the last few years has undercut the party's assertions of moral authority and, worse, may serve to reinforce the doubts that many evangelical voters have traditionally harbored about the unholiness of the political realm.

It was the way she stood there, enduring. Silda Wall Spitzer did not say a word as her husband, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, brusquely apologized to his family and the public after he was allegedly caught on a wiretap doing business with a high-priced prostitution ring. Her face was drawn. But she took her husband's hand as they left the room. This scandal has many salacious details, but it was the image of Silda Wall Spitzer at her man's side that dominated conversations across the country Tuesday.

New details emerged Wednesday about the purported call girl at the center of the prostitution scandal engulfing New York's governor, with a newspaper report identifying her as a 22-year-old aspiring musician from Manhattan. The New York Times reported that the real name of the woman -- identified as Kristen in court papers alleging that Gov. Eliot Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for prostitutes' services -- is Ashley Alexandra Dupre. Don D.

Two days after federal agents publicly identified Eliot Spitzer as a client of a high-priced prostitution ring, the first-term governor announced his resignation at a somber news conference Wednesday, relinquishing his duties to Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson. Paterson, 53, who will be sworn in as New York's top state official Monday, will inherit a politically riven Legislature facing a $4.4-billion deficit.

Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila denied wrongdoing Thursday and gave no sign he would abandon his reelection effort after being charged with campaign finance violations that carry a penalty of 20 years in prison. Acevedo said that U.S. prosecutors' indictment -- which alleges that the governor and a dozen other people conspired to pay off his campaign debts illegally -- was politically motivated.

. -- Few things get a state talking like a first lady scorned. Although Nevadans yawn at quickie divorces, drive-through weddings, topless showgirls and legalized prostitution, the divorce proceedings between Gov. Jim Gibbons and his estranged wife, Dawn, have transfixed folks here like a daytime soap opera. "I don't want to know all the details -- it makes me feel prurient," says Carol Hendricks, 79, at the Comma Coffee shop across from the state Legislative Building.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland received a standing ovation Saturday night when he predicted that his state will again tip the race for the White House -- this time delivering it to Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama. Strickland, noting that he had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, said she would want him to deliver a message. "Barack Obama is the nominee of our party.

Former President Clinton kicked off the centennial gathering of the National Governors Assn. on Saturday with a challenge to the states to reassert themselves to help the country combat what he called the profound challenges of globalization and interdependency.