With the Republican Party flailing after losing control of the federal government and recent scandals surrounding top presidential hopefuls, the party must search for viable alternative candidates.

One intriguing Republican flying under the national radar is Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. The conservative former House member has a solid record after seven years in office by limiting spending, expanding economic development and reforming education in a poor, largely rural state unused to political change. Mr. Riley's deep understanding of policy, combined with an amiable, down-home manner, also scores well with voters across the ideological spectrum.

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Reformist conservative government works. That's the lesson from the remarkable successes of Alabama Republican Gov. Bob Riley, perhaps the most underrated governor in these United States.

Mr. Riley certainly did not start his term from a position of strength. He won election by only 3,200 votes, and only after a recount battle that lasted weeks. His first year was hobbled by a horrendous budget crisis left over by predecessor Don Siegelman, who was later convicted on bribery charges. Mr. Riley tried to use the crisis as an occasion to push through an overly complicated tax-reform plan but was soundly defeated in a referendum.

Three years after that electoral loss, Mr. Riley was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote. His approval rating subsequently climbed into the 70s while the state's unemployment rate dipped as low as 3.2 percent.

More than two dozen Republican gubernatorial candidates converged Friday at an Idaho resort for a three-day session organized by the Republican Governors Association to lay out a strategy to rebuild the GOP for the 2010 election cycle.

The Sun Valley event will feature sessions led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Michigan Gov. John Engler and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. It was the latest sign that the governors association and its chairman, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, were emerging as influential players in shaping a Republican comeback bid from disastrous losses in the past two election cycles.

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Things in Louisiana are looking up. We are announcing major economic development wins and private capital investment and reducing government spending in order to live within our means. We just completed a grueling legislative session where we all had to work together, Democrats and Republicans, to find a way to do more with less.

We trimmed government spending, protected vital services and refused to raise taxes. (As is the case in any legislative body, some gave it a try). I can’t say our legislative session was much fun, but it was necessary, and it is the American way. Or, at least we thought it was.

In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on the news in Washington. I wish I had not.