"President Bush could not have named a Western governor more in line with this administration."

That prompted the Western governors to ask for the additional debate.

It calls for sharing responsibility among various levels of government, which appealed to the Western governors.

There, the people who hire teachers are taking a close look at Western Governors' standards.

That proposal has already come under attack by Western governors and is sure to be a battle in Congress.

I think the Western Governor's University already has such a system in place, and it's working pretty well.

Next week, he helps out several Western governors by taking his campaign on a hectic, two-day fly-around.

As Governor, he helped in 1975 found a group that became the Western Governors' Association.

Other environmental leaders fault the administration for breaking with the Western governors' 10-year plan, just months after praising it as a breakthrough for consensus.

The document signed here today, which was addressed to leading members of Congress, essentially formalized the Western governors' ideas developed since last summer.