Smart Growth Governor Revamps Game Plan

Jennifer Granholm, her supporters say, represents something new and fresh in progressive politics. In an era of deficits, polemics, and a steady rightward electoral shift, Ms. Granholm embraces a classic Democratic view of government as a social good. But she also knows she must help Michigan businesses and citizens to find prosperity in a global economy that ships manufacturing jobs overseas, and do so while facing the name-calling — “liberal,” “tax and spend,” and now “lacking in moral values” — that conservatives use effectively against Democrats. But, supporters and critics wonder if her goals are too intellectual, too opaque for people to fully grasp?