Brad Henry and Dave Freudenthal

[sg0508]

Gov. races are far less partisan and thus, the minority party often controls many statehouses.  Sometimes, if the majority party has a nasty primary that yields someone to far left or right, the more moderate candidate from the minority party wins.  Third parties can do that too.

See also Sebelius in KS in 2002, Douglas in VT in 2002 and the string of Democratic governors now in MT.