Stateline.org: Beebe 'star of the class'

Stateline.org grades the 11 first term governors, naming Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe as the star of the class. The popularity among them ranges from rock star status to gone, as in the case of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. About Beebe:

His approval ratings have ranged from 70 percent to 80 percent, and not from avoiding controversy. Working with the Democratic Legislature — which sometimes had strained relations with his predecessor, Republican Mike Huckabee — Beebe has slashed the sales tax on groceries in half, increased school funding and raised the severance tax on natural gas for the first time in decades. Winning the severance-tax fight meant facing down the energy industry and securing a three-fourths majority in both chambers.

Beebe learned state government over more than two decades, serving as a state senator and later as attorney general. “It’s highly unusual for a governor to win all of the battles with legislators here, but Beebe hasn't lost one — large or small — yet,” said Carmie Henry, a utility lobbyist in Little Rock. Beebe is considered a lock for re-election.