Governor Carcieri tells talk-radio station WPRO, in an interview to be aired next month, that he is not ruling out a run against Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in two years. His comments add fuel to a fire started in recent weeks by GOP party chairman Gio Cicione, who has touted a possible Carcieri Senate run.

Carcieri leaves office with low approval ratings.

Governor Carcieri today vetoed a bill that would give voters the chance to decide whether the Twin River and Newport Grand slot parlors should be expanded to full-scale casinos. The General Assembly may yet override that veto and place the matter on the ballot. And voters may be amenable to a gambling expansion, given Massachusetts' strong moves toward casino gambling.

Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe is calling CREW's ranking a "ridiculous" and "comical" enterprise. "They were so responsible and ethical," she says of the organization, "as to never contact this office."

Noting that nine of the 11 governor's on the group's list are Republicans, she says CREW has "an agenda."

"Governor Carcieri is one of the most accessible, ethical, and transparent elected officials to serve in Rhode Island," she says.

As reported here last week, Governor Carcieri was part of a group of 20 governors who penned a letter voicing opposition to the EPA's planned regulation of greenhouse gases. Attorney General Patrick Lynch is now blasting the governor for the move:

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch has sent Governor Carcieri a copy of a letter he has written to Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation to counter Carcieri’s participation in a multi-state letter in which Carcieri, along with 19 other governors, stated that the EPA should not regulate greenhouse gas emissions but should be restricted to merely offering input.

Governor Donald Carcieri trumpeted the importance of wind energy yesterday as the vice chairman of a bi-partisan group of 29 governors pushing for greater federal support for wind.

The event added to a nice green sheen the governor has cultivated. But close watchers know it's the energy independence wind promises that most excites.

Electricity deals don't generally scream "excitement." But Governor Carcieri's announcement of a 20-year agreement for National Grid to buy power from Deepwater Wind, the company planning a 106-turbine wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, is about as exciting as these things get.

The deal - the second of its kind in the nation - should strengthen Deepwater's pitch for financing for the project, allowing Rhody to move one step closer to realizing its vision for a clean energy hub.

Perpetually at odds with the Democratic legislature and pushing further and further into his lame-duck period, Governor Carcieri rarely has an opportunity to claim a high-profile victory. But he gets that opportunity today, with members of a key state workers' union signing off on a cost-cutting deal that will impose a temporary pay cut in a bid to cover a portion of the state's budget shortfall.

This just in from the governor's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri will appear on several national television news programs today, including Fox Business News, Fox News Channel, CBS Evening News, as well as WJAR-TV 10. Below is a schedule of appearances and air times:

3:15 p.m. Fox Business News; Countdown to the Closing Bell with Liz Claman; Fox Business News can be seen locally on Cox Channel 122, Verizon FIOS Channel 117, and Direct TV Channel 359

A key House committee has voted unanimously to approve the nomination of state Supreme Court Justice Paul A. Suttell to the post of chief justice.

The 13-0 vote is no great surprise. Gov. Carcieri's nomination of the well-liked judge has engendered little opposition from the Democratic legislature, in a welcome break from the partisanship that has roiled Smith Hill for the better part of the last six years.

Governor Donald L. Carcieri, expected in some corners to name Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg the next chief justice, has instead named Justice Paul A. Suttell to the post. This just in from the governor's office:

Governor Donald L. Carcieri today announced that he has nominated Supreme Court Justice Paul A.

As Governor Carcieri prepares to tonight deliver his penultimate State of the State address, it's worth considering the governor's once-lauded communication skills -- and how they might have been deployed to greater effect.

As I wrote in 2006:

[A]lthough it seemed clear at the outset that Carcieri was going to project a more robust presence than the quietly effective Lincoln Almond, he has emerged, to the begrudging admiration of his partisan detractors, as Rhode Island’s version of the great communicator.

Jason DeParle, who has long covered the welfare beat at the NYT, had some interesting findings yesterday: that even with (or perhaps because of) a severe national economic crisis, "18 states cut their welfare rolls last year, and nationally the number of people receiving cash assistance remained at or near the lowest in more than 40 years."

Speaking of the runup to 2010, local PR impresario Dave Preston over the weekend had a look-back at Bruce Sundlun's accomplishment-laden tenure (cleaning up the credit union crisis, expanding the airport, reforming workers' comp) in the governor's office. The headline cited Sundlun as a "model of strong leadership."