Southern governors

Seven Southern states had races for governor on Tuesday, and both Democrats and Republicans can point to victories.

Democrats must be pleased with the triumph of Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe (D), who held off politically-connected former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R) and brought Democrats back into the governor's mansion.

A visit from President Bush the day before the elections didn't help Hutchinson, who led the impeachment charge against fellow Arkansas lawmaker Bill Clinton (who campaigned for Beebe). As Stateline notes,

Beebe’s conservative positions on abortion, intelligent design and gay foster parents denied Hutchinson gains on social issues from conservative, rural Democrats. These stances cost Beebe little Democratic support.

More evidence of Beebe's conservative leanings came with the announcement of his transition team yesterday (via Arkansas Blog):

Beebe has announced the team -- poultry lobbyist Morril Harriman, insurance lobbyist Ark Monroe, gas man Eamon Mahony, outgoing Rep. Joyce Elliott and Don Nelms, a retired car dealer with a strong environmental resume.

Harriman is the most controversial, given ongoing clashes between state regulators and the scandal-plagued poultry industry, especially Tyson Foods.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans are happy to have won five of the seven gubernatorial contests in the South. Incumbent Republicans Sonny Perdue in Georgia and Bob Riley in Alabama were expected to win, but their victories were important nonetheless: when Perdue first took office in 2002, he was the first Republican governor in 146 years in Georgia; Riley faced critics on the right for his support of a substantial tax hike.

Charlie Crist's (R) seven-point victory in Florida firmly established him as a rising star for a beleaguered GOP. As The Buzz notes, Crist's strong showing over Jim Davis (D) is no