Republican governors got their election post-mortem under way today, with leading light Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota warning that the party needs "more than a comb-over." Another rising governor, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, said voters now trust Democrats to control spending and cut taxes more than Republicans. "When the Republican Party is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism," he said, "then clearly I would argue we've lost our way."
Sarah Palin is scheduled to address the three-day gathering tomorrow with the theme of "looking to the future." But Mississippi's Haley Barbour warned his colleagues not to look too far ahead, reminding them that 36 governors' seats are up for election in two years. "Any Republican who's thinking past 2010 doesn't have his eye on the ball," Barbour said. (More Tim Pawlenty stories.)