Amid oil spill, governors make gains

[nmbluesky]

but Why do they don't give Obama credit and gains approved? Not Fair!!!!!

President Barack Obama may be taking a hit for his handling of the BP oil spill, but the disaster has been a political boon for those closer to the action.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, whose rise in the GOP faltered after a lackluster response to Obama’s 2009 State of the Union speech, has seen his approval ratings jump nearly 13 percentage points to 74 percent.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate who was reelected in 2007 with 60 percent of the vote, now has a job approval rating of 70 percent.

And Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, whose independent bid for the U.S. Senate was sputtering before the spill, has seized on the crisis to remake his image and reset the race.

While they’re not exactly celebrating their political fortunes in the face of the unfolding tragedy, it’s hard to miss what it’s done to advance their careers.

Crist may be the biggest political beneficiary of the trio. Even before a serious threat to Florida’s shoreline was evident, Crist grabbed major headlines by securing $25 million from BP to pay for tourism advertising.

He’s also attended anti-drilling protests and been captured in dozens and dozens of photos, clad in casual clothes, inspecting the state’s snow-white Gulf shores.

“He’s really benefited tremendously from free media. It’s like a gift,” said Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida. “He’s looked very gubernatorial and has gotten good marks from the public for his handling of the situation.”

Crist has also turned the disaster into a fundraising pitch. In a recent appeal sent to supporters, he asked for help — and cash — to continue his quest to “protect our beautiful state” in Washington.

Crist’s sharp pivot from senatorial candidate to hands-on governor came at an especially opportune time, shifting the focus from his recent decision to drop out of the Republican Senate primary, in which he was badly trailing former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.

And by standing beside Obama on a pristine Pensacola shore talking about the state’s tourism industry, as he did last month, he sent a more subtle signal to the kinds of Democratic voters he’ll need to win — a tactic that dovetails with his recent outreach to labor, teachers, environmentalists and other traditional Democratic allies.

“It’s given him a chance to look somewhat bipartisan,” said Jennifer Duffy, the Senate analyst at The Cook Political Report. “He’s reminding voters why they voted for him in the first place.”

According to polling experts, the public instinctively rallies around local leaders at a time of crisis, particularly in the case of a natural disaster.

“There is no ideological opposition to a natural disaster,” said Peter Brown, an analyst with Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “If people think government is getting help to them, they tend to credit the people in charge.”

But that support can quickly dissipate. History is replete with examples of politicians who evoked the public’s wrath because of their management — or mismanagement — of a natural or man-made disaster.

President George W. Bush and his father, President George H.W. Bush, were both banged up by hurricanes — Katrina in 2005 and Andrew in 1992, respectively.

atrina also blew former Louisiana Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco off the political scene, and former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who eked out a reelection in 2006, saw his approval ratings plummet during the extended and inconsistent recovery effort.

In Iowa, Democratic Gov. Chet Culver initially saw his approval ratings spike to about 60 percent in 2008 after he provided a high-profile presence while dealing with historic floods that caused billions in damage.

But the state’s slow rebuilding effort now has become one of several issues driving public opinion against him. Polls show Culver is trailing by double digits in his reelection bid against former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad.

In a recent column, the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s Todd Dorman identified the post-flood period as the start of Culver’s falling fortunes. Dorman was especially critical of Culver’s decision not to call a special session of the Legislature to ramp up recovery action just before the 2008 elections.

“When he could have sent a strong signal that the flood was worthy of a statewide, all-hands-on-deck response, he played it cautious,” Dorman concluded.

Mother Nature, however, now is providing Culver an opportunity to reverse that image as heavy rains in recent weeks have caused new floods and a dam break.

Earlier this month, Culver was captured by the local media helping volunteers fill sandbags. Last week, he asked the Obama administration to set aside $8 billion to study the decades-old flood-management plans for the state’s four reservoirs. And on Sunday, Culver toured the damage around the Lake Delhi dam, which failed Saturday after heavy rains.

If Culver’s 2008 decision not to call a special, flood-related legislative session was a mistake, it’s one that Crist didn’t make in the wake of the oil spill.

He called Florida lawmakers back into special session last week and pressed them to put on the November ballot a constitutional amendment banning offshore oil drilling.

The legislators rejected the idea (offshore oil drilling is already banned off Florida coasts) and adjourned the special session in less than an hour, robbing him of a chance to ride the crisis to Election Day — unless the situation worsens on the coast.

In response, Crist seized the spotlight to rail against state lawmakers for failing to advance the proposal, which is widely popular among the independent and Democratic voters critical to the governor’s senatorial hopes.

“They are the do-nothing Legislature,” Crist fumed before a crowd of Florida television station klieg lights. “How arrogant can a Legislature be? I can’t believe that they would have that much of a lack of respect for the people of Florida.”

The next round of polls will offer some insight into how much the disaster and Crist’s aggressive response to it have changed the contours of the Senate campaign.

In the most recent Quinnipiac poll, Crist held a slight lead over Rubio and easily outpaced the two Democratic candidates, Rep. Kendrick Meek and billionaire Jeff Greene.

“The more he can talk about the oil spill, he’s standing up for the consumers and for Florida,” said Brown. “He’s their guy and not just a candidate for Senate.”

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