general Attorney Caldwell (D) 67% Republicans do better with low turnout. Which was not the case this time, there was low turnout but,. The governor: so much for so little a. strength of office a. myth is LA governor is most powerful governor in US. truth to this but some things that are really wrong. LA governors have excreted more power in history than other states. The point is the power is excreted is done so with fewer tools. We treat the office as one that has a lot of strength. We are only 1 of 5 states that have elections on a different year, they have a huge mansion. We treat our governor has someone who is very, very powerful. b. But, the power they use is not really in the formal power that they have. c. Mississippi and Texas have weaker governors, so that makes us look more powerful. formal b. powers(constitutional powers) a. budgetary powers i. the amount of control the governor has over the budget. Not weak here. About average to strong ii. line-item-veto--- a veto that allows the governor to veto each section of the budget. We can veto each line in the budget. Remember, vetos are never overridden. Many states cannot do that. They try to pack as many things in a single line as they can. b. appointment powers i. weaker. Average to weak... but getting stronger ii. they are often weak b/c of our political culture and we elect people for everything, and the governor appoints people. c. informal powers(cultural powers) a. history of strong governors. You begin to feel the power when people push it on you. i. This overcomes the lack of power you have, b. d. the modern governors