Today, on NPR's All Things Considered, Pat Quinn, the Democratic lieutenant governor of Illinois, says he hasn't spoken to Rod Blagojevich, the Democratic governor of Illinois, since August of 2007.

Sounds like they're married.

But what is it with governors and their lieutenants? The problem is that many are elected together in what amounts to shotgun marriages. Sometimes they run together as a team, but sometimes they are separately nominated or even elected. And whether or not they start off as partners, they don't always end up that way.

That's certainly the case in Illinois. As it was, before the latest scandal broke, the feeling all along has been that it was the state attorney general, Lisa Madigan — not LG Quinn — who was planning to take on the governor in the 2010 Democratic primary. But the case of lieutenant governors hoping to move up by challenging their bosses in the primary are not completely unusual.

In 1980, Montana Gov. Tom Judge was defeated in the Democratic primary by his own LG — Ted Schwinden.

Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes challenged his fellow Democrat, Gov. Preston Smith, in the 1972 primary. Barnes finished two times better than Smith, but that wasn't good enough. Smith placed fourth in the primary and Barnes third — a primary won by Dolph Briscoe, who went on to win the governorship.

And one famous contest in which a lieutenant governor of one party ousted a governor of another came in Minnesota in 1962, when Karl Rolvaag (D) defeated Elmer Andersen (R) by 91 votes — an election that was eventually decided by the state Supreme Court.

According to the National Lieutenant Governors Association, govs and LGs run together as a team in 24 states: Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin.

Of those states, seven nominate gov and LG candidates separately: Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York and Wisconsin.

Eighteen states hold separate gov and LG elections: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

Seven states have no lieutenant governors: Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, West Virginia, and Wyoming. In Tennessee, the speaker of the state Senate is also the lieutenant governor, but there is no election in Tennessee for LG. New Jersey will elect its first LG next year.

categories: A Look Back In Politics, Crime And Punishment

2:25 - December 11, 2008

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