Hello Guvnor: More Pseudoscientific Scoring of Politicians!

I'm worried that Ahnold might have be doing drugs. Or maybe he's depressed. Because his grades are really suffering this term. Cato's Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors is out, and "California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who topped the 2004 governors report card with an A, drops to a D this year due to an overall increase in his state's budget."

Only one governor receives an A this year-- Republican Matt Blunt of Missouri. The next two highest-scoring Republicans are Rick Perry of Texas and Mark Sanford of South Carolina. The highest-scoring Democratic governors are John Lynch of New Hampshire and Phil Bredesen of Tennessee.

As always, the losers list of governing failures is a goldmine:

Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana; Michael Easley of North Carolina; Christine Gregoire of Washington; Kenny Guinn of Nevada; Mike Huckabee of Arkansas; Ruth Ann Minner of Delaware; Janet Napolitano of Arizona; Bob Riley of Alabama; and Brian Schweitzer of Montana.

Why is Schweitzer so bad? Well, he grew Montana's budget by 17 percent this year, but the real problem is that he's hanging out with bad seeds:

The treasury has racked up a record-high budget surplus this year of close to $550 million [but] Schweitzer only proposed to rebate one-fifth of it and spent the rest. It's no wonder that Schweitzer is the favorite governor of the Daily Kos crowd. He is one of the worst new governors in the nation from a small-government perspective.

On the "graduating governors" list, Jeb Bush squeaks by, sneaking out of the Florida governor's mansion with a "B".

And don't forget the congressional "power rankings" here.