Guessing Game Results: The Unidentified Governor

We asked for your guesses as to the identity of this anonymous Democratic governor (as mentioned in this article from the Post):

Governors privately scoff at the slogan [?Together, America Can Do Better?]. They also say the message coming from congressional leaders has been too relentlessly negative. ?They want to coordinate. They want to collaborate. That's all good,? saidone Democratic governor who declined to be identifiedin order to talk candidly about a closed-door meeting. ?The question is: Coordinate or collaborate on what? People need to know not just what we're against but what we're for. That's the kind of message the governors are interested in developing at the national level.?

So, which Democrat was playing the familiar game of carping about fellow Democrats? Your thoughts on this question, after the jump.

Here is the full list of suspects . And now, on to your guesses. We'll present them in a pretty random order -- except we'll save the overwhelming favorite for last.

* "Note the syntax to carefully avoid revealing gender of the commentor, perhaps because revealing the gender would reveal too much. Female Democratic governor of prominence basically leaves us with Granholm or Napolitano. Napolitano, as the governor of a Southwestern state that has always gone Republican, has been much sought after for her advice and comments by the party at large (the spring policy conference is in Phoenix). She is also a little less diplomatic in speech than Granholm -- someone who reporters would track down and who would have no trouble speaking this frankly."

* "The only governors worried about 'developing a message at the national level' are running for POTUS in ?08. Vilsack is already cited in the article as raising questions about the Reid/Pelosi dueling six-point plans. It sounds like an off the record response from Vilsack responding to a request for comment on the assertion that he asked Reid/Pelosi to clearly define the message 'according to multiple sources in the room.'"

* "Tim Kaine"

* "Tom Vilsack"

* "Absolutely nothing to back this idle speculation up, but doesn't it have to be someone who is serious about putting a run together in 2008 but doesn't want to piss off the guys in the party holding the money bags? Maybe someone who's name rhymes with 'Bark Horner' or 'Mom Ballsack'?"

* "Governor Ed Rendell of PA. He?s the only one with the brashness (once made prank phone calls to his Deputy Mayor regarding size down there while I was interning) and honesty to say something like that. I?m surprised he didn?t curse, though. Then again, he still wants to be Secretary of Transportation one day."

* "my guess would be Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, that line was pretty close to his opening remark at a speech he gave at the Center for American Progess when the governors were in town last week."

* "I was first going to say Tim Kaine, but the quote sounds too literate to come from him. Everything I've read or heard him say makes me believe that Jerry Kilgore lost because he's more backwoods than Kaine. Then I thought it was Bill Richardson. But he's not afraid to say anything on the record. That guy would talk to a high school reporter if she were cute enough. He learned plenty fron Bill. So I think it's sly dog Evan Bayh of Iowa. He thinks he runs DC politics anyway. Got news for him buddy: You gotta win the nomination first, and that involves beating Hilary-zilla. And even if you do become president, you won't run much anyway. You're a Democrat!" [Ed. note: But Bayh couldn't be the source; he's a senator.]

Even though this reader discounted Richardson, many others tagged him as the source. These responses are representative:

* "I would like the quote to have come from Jennifer Granholm because she is hot and I like seeing her picture posted on Wonkette. My guess, sadly, is that it was from a Democrat governor who, 1. has Washington insider experience, and 2. does not wish to be seen pissing off either Democrats or Republicans right now by airing a bunch of dirty laundry in the press. That would argue for the much less visually pleasing Bill Richardson .

* "I'm thinking it's Bill Richardson, strictly based on my gut reaction that the person in question sounds completely exasperated, which is Bill's default setting. Also, I can totally hear him saying 'that's all good.' He probably tries to impress the youngsters on his staff by using 'hip' lingo, like 'it's all good' and 'I'm down with that.' And more practically, he's going to try and run in 2008 as an outsider, against the Democratic party. Yeah, good luck with that."

* It sounds like Bill Richardson of New Mexico to me. He is -- or at least was the last time I checked -- chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He's also a gabby ex-Clinton Administration cabinet member who's still probably on the rolodex of a lot of reporters in this town... Note also the source's line about communications at the "national level." Until a few months back, Richardson was making the rounds in D.C., trying to build up support for a 2008 White House bid but revelations that he really, really exaggerated the bit in his bio about being a baseball player appear to have sunk that . So Richardson is exactly the type that a reporter would think to call for a story like this, and he's probably also bitter and angry enough right now to be coaxed into dissing his own guys."

* "your governor is Bill Richardson. that's what he always says. and he's the DGA chair... obviously one of the must-calls for a piece like that. no self-respecting reporter would do a story about that and not call him."

These games never end with a definitive answer, since reporters protect the anonymity of their sources with the diligence of Judy Miller, and no prizes are awarded. But to the extent that there's ever a correct response, it sounds like the answer to today's quiz was "Bill Richardson."