Governor Lincoln Chafee, who's had a tough go of it since taking office on a crisp day in January 2011, has looked more statesmanlike this week than at any point in his tenure.

That is due, in part, to the nature of crisis. When something big and troubling happens in a state, all eyes turn to the chief executive. Think of Governor Carcieri after the Station nightclub fire.

As soon as news broke of financial troubles at former Red Sox ace Curt Schilling's 38 Studios video game company, observers began comparing the firm to Solyndra. Former GOP gubernatorial candidate John Robitaille made the analogy just yesterday in an interview with WPRI-TV.

On the surface, the comparison makes some sense: the Obama Administration invested in Solyndra, the solar energy firm, only to watch it go bust - prompting questions about government picking winners and losers in the private sector.

Just back from buisiness incubator Betaspring's 2012 Spring Launch Day in their new, loft-space offices on Chestnut Street, right down the street from Phoenix HQ. And it was enough to give you some hope for the economic future of our fair city (full disclosure: one of Betaspring's principals, Owen Johnson, is my wife's cousin).

One of Congressman David Cicilline's central challenges - as policymaker and politician facing a tough re-election fight - is his relatively powerless position as a freshman in the minority party. He will not be able to go to voters, in the coming months, with a lengthy list of accomplishments.

But that hasn't stopped him from attaching himself to several hot-button issues in his first year-plus in office.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's Buffett Rule legislation takes center stage in American politics today, with the Senate expected to vote on the measure tonight.

But it's not the only tax measure Congress will take up with Tax Day approaching. The GOP-controlled House will consider a measure, sponsored by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, that would hand a 20 percent tax deduction to businesses employing fewer than 500 people.

Discerning manufacturing's future in Rhode Island is no easy task.

For all the trends I identify in this week's cover story in the Phoenix - "Making It In RI: Can manufacturing rescue the state's economy?" - there are, of course, counter-examples.

I write, for instance, of the increasingly sophisticated training that the modern factory - a high-tech, robot-heavy institution - requires of its employees.

Manufacturing is all the rage these days. Factories are creating jobs for the first time in 20 years, nationwide. And pols from President Obama to our own Congressman David Cicilline are placing big bets on the sector.

So, can manufacturing really save the state?

I spent the last couple of weeks walking the factory floor, talking to CEOs and policymakers, and poring through the data in a quest for the answer.

Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will be at a Game Stop in Bellingham, Massachusetts at midnight tonight for the release of his video game company 38 Studios' highly anticipated first title, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning."

The game has won positive early reviews and, as the Providence Journal reported this weekend, industry analysts are expecting sales of at least 1 million, which would make the game a moderate success.

From Greg Sargent at the Washington Post (I've fixed a coupla typos):

Picture this scenario. The Senate holds a high-profile vote on a proposal focused directly on implementing the Buffett Rule, one that would bring the current tax rate for millionaires paying lower rates on investments up to 30 percent. This, at at exactly the moment when the GOP is picking a nominee who is worth $250 million and is personally benefitting to an enormous degree from the current rate — one that’s lower than many middle class taxpayers pay.

Amid the ever-dreary news about the Rhode Island economy, an intriguing finding from Richard Florida, an urban theorist best known for his book The Rise of the Creative Class, and his colleagues at the Martin Prosperity Institute.

Florida, also senior editor at the Atlantic magazine, and his partners Charlotta Mellander and Karen King find Rhode Island is fifth best among the states and the District of Columbia when it comes to places for women to work.

Congressman David Cicilline, in a letter to President Obama ahead of his highly anticipated jobs speech next week, calls for an investment in manufacturing:

Nationally, the manufacturing sector has been a bright spot even during these trying economic times. If this vital economic engine is to be sustained, we must continue our investments in programs that help manufacturers compete in a global economy, retool to be more efficient and effective businesses, and retrain the workforce so that skill sets utilized in declining sectors can be transferred to those that are expanding.

Congressman David Cicilline, who has faced a firestorm over his handling of the city budget as mayor of Providence, got a chance to change the subject today - holding a press event to formally introduce his "Make it in America" block grant proposal and to tout a broader, six-point plan to boost the state's manufacturing sector.

Government shutdown averted, the next major battle in Washington will be over raising the federal government's debt ceiling. Republicans are threatening to vote against it unless Democrats agree to major spending cuts. The government, they say, cannot continue its free-spending ways.

A failure to raise the debt ceiling would lead to an unprecedented default that could have disastrous effects.

Austerity is all the rage in Washington these days. See President Obama's State of the Union address and the GOP's response. Seemed like a good time to chat with Brown University political science professor Mark Blyth, who suggests the austerity push is not as virtuous as it may sound. So I've got a Q&A with him in this week's Phoenix

Late last week, it was starting to look like Governor Chafee - highly critical of the Economic Development Corporation during the campaign - might re-appoint executive director Keith Stokes. This morning, Chafee spokesman Mike Trainor confirmed the appointment.

This move is sure to play well in a private sector that has a wary view of the new governor.