Yet the voters picked moderate Republican governors as the party's stars of the future.

"I'm a Tom Kean Republican," he said, referring to the moderate former governor, who remains enormously popular.

He was considered to be a moderate Republican governor in the Nelson A. Rockefeller mold.

The moderate Republican governors now have the opportunity to take control of their party and to lead it to big gains in the next election.

It strikes us that Connecticut would be better off with a moderate Republican governor now.

Despite the growing criticisms of moderate Republican governors, he would keep the strict anti-abortion plank.

The campaign started searching for a compromise as early as April, when the moderate governors began threatening a floor fight.

"Truly moderate Republican governors have already supported legislation that is far more comprehensive than this."

The showcasing of moderate governors that year was a bit of a head fake.

Back then she was at the height of her celebrity, the best known of the wave of moderate Republican governors elected in 1993 and 1994.