ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews more closely at how the office of governor has changed in recent decades and how those changes impact on the character of state politics and governing. It begins by looking at two developments that have ostensibly produced a resurgence in the states' chief executives—increases in the formal authority and institutional resources afforded governors and the emergence of a new kind of American governor. The chapter examines the evidence concerning the impact of those changes on individual gubernatorial success in the American states. That discussion naturally leads to a consideration of the constraints and obstacles that governors currently face. The chapter considers the broader implications of those developments for the quality of statehouse democracy and the ability of the states to govern in a responsible fashion. Governors after all, represent statewide interests, whereas legislators represent districts. The ability to veto legislation is one of the oldest formal tools at the governors' disposal.
