With limited authority over state lawmaking, but ultimate responsibility for the performance of government, how effective are governors in moving their programs through the legislature? This book advances a new theory about what makes chief executives most successful and explores this theory through original data. Thad Kousser and Justin H. Phillips argue that negotiations over the budget, on the one hand, and policy bills on the other are driven by fundamentally different dynamics. They capture these dynamics in models informed by interviews with gubernatorial advisors, cabinet members, press secretaries and governors themselves. Through a series of novel empirical analyses and rich case studies, the authors demonstrate that governors can be powerful actors in the lawmaking process, but that what they're bargaining over – the budget or policy – shapes both how they play the game and how often they can win it.

"To assess whether American governors can effectively govern, the authors draw on strategic models, interviews with governors, and new datasets to show that that governors can be powerful actors in the lawmaking process, but that what they're bargaining over - the budget or policy bills - shapes both how they play the game and how often they win"--

This volume brings together a broad range of research on governors in the American states, examining governors as potentially powerful leaders who are subject to a range of constraints, as well as considering how individual governors may choose leadership paths that either enhance or detract from that power.

Recounts the former Michigan governor's struggles to solve the problems of unemployment and budget deficits with the auto industry collapse and global financial crisis.

Governors can be powerful actors in the lawmaking process, but what they're bargaining over shapes their strategy and effectiveness.

In Governor Reagan, Lou Cannon offers -- through recent interviews and research drawn from his unique access to the cabinet minutes of Reagan's first years as governor of California -- a fresh look at the development of a master politician. At first, Reagan suffered from political amateurism, an inexperienced staff, and ideological blind spots. But he quickly learned to take the measure of the Democrats who controlled the State Legislature and surprised friends and foes alike by agreeing to a huge tax increase, which made it possible for him to govern for eight years without additional tax hikes. He developed an environmental policy that preserved the state 's scenic valleys and wild rivers, and he signed into law what was then the nation's most progressive declaration on abortion rights. His quixotic 1968 presidential campaign revealed his higher ambitions to the world and taught him how much he had to learn about big-league politics. Written by the definitive biographer of Ronald Reagan, this new biography is a classic study of a fascinating individual's evolution from a conservative hero to a national figure whose call for renewal stirred Republicans, working-class Democrats, and independents alike.

Although each state is subject to the provisions of the Federal government, each state has the flexibility of making its own rules and regulations. The governors are in charge of the day-to-day administration of the states. Until the 1970s women governors were a rare commodity in the United States. Nearly all the elected governors up until the 1970s were men. United States did not elect any female governors in their own rights until the 1970s. Although the first two female governors, Mrs Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming and Mrs Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas were elected on November 4, 1924, it was only out of sympathy for their affected husbands or due to their husbands influence as former governors rather than on merit. Both preceded in office by their late husbands; William Ross had served as governor of Wyoming from 1923 to 1924, and James Edward Furguson had served as the 29th governor of Texas from January 19, 1915 to August 25, 1917. Arizona is the first state where a female followed another female as governor. Arizona also has had the most female governors with a total of three (as of January 2010). As of December 6, 2006, when Sarah Palin was inaugurated as the first female governor of Alaska, a record nine women had been elected in their own rights and were serving as the chief executive of their states. Today, some 15 percent of state governors are women. At least twenty-nine women (as of 2010) have served as the governor of an American state. This book lists all the individual governors of each of the 50 states from 1776 (or since statehood) to 2009 and highlights on the powers and limitations of the individual governors of all the 50 states.