RGA Meeting Sets Priorities for New Slate of Republican Governors

The incoming group of GOP chief executives includes some familiar names and former members of Congress but also boasts several new stars to help reshape the look, if not the ideology, of the Republican Party.

But no matter how fresh-faced or charismatic the new GOP governors may be, they face the same problems as their Democratic predecessors: tax revenues that are below 2008 levels, staggering state employee retiree costs, and high demand for government services, especially because state Medicaid caseloads have jumped by six million people since the recession began.

The governors are significant not only because of the decisions they’ll make on Medicaid and other policies, but because they could install a political apparatus in their states that will help turn out voters for the GOP presidential candidate in 2012.