Associated Press Compares Blunt to B. Holden

The Associated Press tars Matt Blunt with B. Holden's brush: Blunt follows Holden model in special session:

On the last day of the legislative session in his first year in office, the governor proclaimed that he had achieved a nearly complete success in passing priority legislation.

Among the exceptions were a failed transportation measure and one other item, which had seemed popular among lawmakers during the governor's State of the State speech.

When lawmakers adjourned in May, the governor immediately said he would call a September special session so that lingering priority could pass.

That was Democrat Bob Holden in 2001. And it is Republican Matt Blunt today.

The governors of opposite parties probably wouldn't want to be linked philosophically, but they have chosen similar political paths in their freshman terms.

Holden's special session dealt with prescription drugs for seniors; Blunt's will focus on anti-abortion legislation.

Yet Blunt's administration says any similarity is unintended -- and undesired.

"I can tell you unequivocally that in making this call we in no way intended to follow the Holden model," said Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson, "nor do we intend to follow that model on any other government changes we intended to seek."

Matt Blunt = B. Holden, or so the AP arithmetic goes. Good work, fellows, but we know that's why you went into journalism and not physics. Arithmetic is hard, journalism is not.