They Can Multiply Without Dividng

The day after he unseated New York's Governor Mario Cuomo, George Pataki -- Republican state legislator, onetime mayor of the small city of Peekskill, former political nobody -- was promising to stick to his promises. Yes, he said at his first postvictory press conference, he would definitely sign a bill approving capital punishment, something Cuomo had repeatedly vetoed. And no, he would not back off from his pledge to cut state taxes 25% over four years. Pataki didn't need to be reminded that by talking tough on crime and pocketbook issues, Republicans had just picked up at least a dozen governorships. If you wanted to win a Governor's race this year, you learned your Ben Franklin: the sure things were death and taxes.

After last week's sweep, Republicans occupy a total of 31 statehouses (or as many as 33 depending on the final tallies in Maryland and Alaska), the first time they have had a majority since 1970. While keeping every Republican-held governorship, the G.O.P. gained seven states in open races and ousted four sitting Democrats, including the party's sharpest tongue, Ann Richards of Texas, and its smoothest, Cuomo, who couldn't talk voters into forgetting New York's high taxes. To the great advantage of the next G.O.P. presidential candidate, seven of the eight largest states will be run by a Republican.

It was a hexed year for Democrats. Richards, one of the party's most popular incumbents, posted a 60% approval rating virtually up to Election Day and still lost to George W. Bush, a political newcomer, a businessman and an S.O.G. (Son of George) who was no F.O.B. (Friend of Bill) -- a decisive plus in Clinton-unfriendly Texas. He didn't even have to run a single negative ad. Republican Pete Wilson of California, an incumbent whose approval rating had sunk to 19% two years ago, still managed a 55% victory over Kathleen Brown. Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, big industrial states that were once Democratic the way Italy is Catholic, all elected Republicans to a second term. In the northeast, where Connecticut and Pennsylvania also went to the Republicans and Maine elected an independent, only Vermont will still have a Democrat in the statehouse come January. And in the Democrat's once solid South, a march to the G.O.P. climaxed with the narrow defeat of Alabama's Democratic Governor James Folsom Jr. by Fob James, a former Democratic Governor who switched parties.