Coast to coast and across party lines

If you don't think the nation's economic situation is dire, just ask the governors who are seeing firsthand the pain its causing in their state's economies.

That’s why this week, a group of 19 governors -- Democratic and Republican alike, from Oklahoma to Oregon and from Vermont to the Virgin Islands -- made a bold statement of bipartisan support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with a letter addressed to the President.

"Families and businesses across the nation are hurting," read the letter, dated February 2, 2009. "Credit markets have seized up, which is affecting both business activity and consumer spending. Unemployment is rising sharply. While we all believe in the importance of free markets, we believe that the markets today need stimulating."

Governors Deval Patrick (D-MA), Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Bill Ritter Jr. (D-CO), M. Jodi Rell (R-CT), Jack Markell (D-DE), Charlie Crist (R-FL), Pat Quinn (D-IL), Chester J. Culver (D-IA), Jennifer M. Granholm (D-MI), Jon S. Corzine (D-NJ), David A. Paterson (D-NY), Ted Strickland (D-OH), Brad Henry (D-OK), Theodore R. Kulongoski (D-OR), Edward G. Rendell (D - PA), James H. Douglas (R - VT), Timothy M. Kaine (D - VA), John deJongh Jr (D-VI), and Jim Doyle (D-WI) all signed the letter.

We’ve published the letter, complete with their signatures, here.