Asked if he's glad he lost his Senate race to Conrad Burns, Gov. Brian Schweitzer practically waved his arms with joy. "Every day!" he said, his grin stretching roughly from Alzada to the Yaak Valley.

Schweitzer, six months into his governorship and visiting the IR's Editorial Board for the first time since his election, had come out of political obscurity to challenge Burns' try at a third term. With a tireless campaign and not a few bus trips to Canada, Schweitzer came surprisingly close to beating the heavily favored Burns.

Now, dressed in his trademark blazer and the blue jeans that so upset the sartorially persnickety, Schweiter mocked a senator's fate: doomed to deliver ponderous speeches about the obvious and tortured explanations for not voting in the interest of one constituent or another.

From the governor's office, Schweitzer exulted, things can get done.

Schweitzer defeated Republican Bob Brown in November to become the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years, but he doesn't come across as a creature of a political party. To be sure, his administration has a thoroughly Democratic flavor, and his bedrock position that Montana's quality of life is the key to its economic future is a far cry from those still pining for the good old days of unbridled resource extraction.

But when Schweitzer talks about exploiting resources, he talks big.

With oil prices soaring and unlikely to return to its former levels anytime soon, if at all, Schweitzer thinks that now is the time to exploit this country's oil shale and coal deposits to produce enough oil to eliminate the need for exports, all without the smokestacks of past energy production. And to the governor, the state of Montana -- the only state that actually owns its own coal -- is in the best position to jump-start the process.

Schweitzer also stressed his eagerness to call anyone or go anywhere to promote business development in the state. Shortly after leaving the IR last week, he was scheduled to meet up with a Canadian software entrepreneur he'd enticed to Helena for a pitch about moving here.

Montana's new governor has a strong personality. He walks into a newspaper's board room without minders and without notes and talks nonstop, displaying an energy that, he said, got him up at 3:30 that morning.

Enthusiasm may not be the only quality a state needs in its governor. But it sure can't hurt.