The Pew Charitable Trusts

Massachusetts ' Deval Patrick has asked his whole cabinet to submit resignation letters, but that doesn't mean there are large changes coming to the Democratic governor's administration. Instead, Patrick's move seems designed to weed out anyone who is unenthusiastic about continuing in their positions, the Boston Globe reports . Top officials will have to reapply for their jobs if they still want them. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell took a similar step after the election and ended up removing almost half his cabinet, but the circumstances are somewhat different. Parnell had just won his first term in his own right after inheriting Governor Sarah Palin's team last year. Patrick just won a second full term, meaning his personal choices already are in place. "I have a lot of confidence in this team," Patrick told the  Globe . "I acknowledge these are demanding jobs, and our agenda is ambitious. So I think it's only fair and natural to ask everyone to think about their commitment and for me to think about mine."

On policy, West Virginia 's new governor isn't expected to represent a major break from his predecessor. Earl Ray Tomblin , like Joe Manchin before him, is considered a moderate Democrat who will defend the state's coal industry. But, the Charleston Gazette notes , their personalities are quite different. Manchin loves the limelight, while Tomblin shies away from it. The new governor has been known to scurry out of the capitol after sessions before the media can talk to him. People who know Tomblin describe him as a deeply private person who prefers to work behind the scenes. "He's very careful not to tell you something and then not do it," Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin told the Gazette . "He doesn't want anybody to say that he lied, or didn't follow through, or wasn't completely truthful."

As their new governor, Rhode Island voters picked a member of one of the state Republican Party's most accomplished families. But there are new signs that Lincoln Chafee 's ties to his old party are growing ever more tenuous. Chafee's first appointment, as director of administration, has gone to former Democratic lieutenant governor Richard A. Licht , the Providence Journal reports . Chafee, like his father, was elected to the United States Senate as a moderate Republican. After losing his reelection bid in 2006 he became an independent. During the campaign, he may have been the most liberal of the candidates in the 2010 race for governor, staking out ground to the left of the Democratic nominee on taxes and immigration. Licht also comes from an established Rhode Island political family. His father defeated Chafee's father in the race for governor in 1968. "This is a new way forward," the Journal quoted Licht as saying. "This is reaching out to someone of the opposite political background."

Michigan Governor-elect Rick Snyder  campaigned as a moderate Republican, and if his appointments mean anything, he's planning on governing as a moderate too. The last time Snyder's new chief of staff worked for a politician, it was a Democrat. Dennis Muchmore served as an aide to a Democratic state senator in the 1970s, before beginning a long career as a lobbyist, the Detroit Free Press reports . Previously, Snyder named Democrat Andy Dillon as state treasurer. Snyder isn't completely avoiding Republican stalwarts, however. He named Mike Gadola as his legal counsel and Geralyn Lasher as his communications director. Both worked in the administration of John Engler, Michigan's last Republican governor.

As Nikki Haley forms her administration as governor of South Carolina , one of the big questions is to what extent she seeks a clean break from the regime of her predecessor (and mentor) Mark Sanford. A new appointment shows there's still room for Sanford loyalists on Haley's team. The State reports that Haley has appointed state Senator  Tom Davis , a former Sanford chief of staff, to a five-member task force charged with finding ways to address South Carolina's $700 million budget shortfall. Haley also announced a new Web site, scbudgetcrisis.org , to solicit budget-cutting ideas. Sanford repeatedly mentioned Davis, a personal friend, in the press conference last year in which he admitted to marital infidelities. "I, in a very profound way, have let down the Tom Davises of the world," Sanford said.