Moderation the Theme in Gubernatorial Races

By Jessica L. Sandham

When the results of last week's balloting showed that he would become California's first Democratic governor in 16 years, Gray Davis spoke almost immediately of his first priority: fixing the public schools.

Telling his supporters his triumph was "a clear affirmation that Californians want to take a moderate path to the future," he then turned to education. ''We must challenge the orthodoxy and find a new way of doing business in our schools because nothing less than the future of our kids is at stake," the governor-elect proclaimed.

As the 36 governors' races came to a close, Mr. Davis was just one of many victors who had campaigned extolling the virtues of centrist approaches--more money for more accountability--to education reform. With both parties maintaining nearly the same number of governors' seats as they had before the Nov. 3 elections, it was neither the Republicans nor the Democrats, but the perceived moderates of both parties, who...