Critics say Granholm has no big signature issue to stamp her legacy. She hasn't nailed down one of her priority issues: increasing the size and scope of the Merit Award Scholarship for college students. She wants the maximum grant expanded from $2,500 to $4,000 and to make the scholarship, now based on high school test scores, to be offered to any student who finishes two years of college.

With help from Republicans, she created the $2-billion 21st Century Jobs Fund to help businesses that develop new products for use by life science, automotive and homeland security industries. Her administration has coaxed dozens of new businesses with tax breaks and other incentives.

As other programs were cut, Granholm wouldn't budge on state health care programs for poor, elderly and disabled people. The main funding source for those programs, Medicaid, gobbles up more than one-quarter of the state's general budget. Her plan to expand state-paid health care to a half-million more people isn't approved yet by the federal government.

She can claim credit for a higher state minimum wage ($6.95 an hour starting today), a 75-cents-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax and an income tax break for low-income workers.

She led calls for the new statewide high school curriculum that emphasizes more math and science. But she slashed funding to universities during her first three years, although much was restored in the budget year that starts this month.

State Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, said Granholm had to cope with a hostile Legislature but also, as the first female governor, had to establish her authority in an otherwise male-dominated Capitol.

"She's a working mom, a lawyer and a chief executive," Whitmer said. "Being the only woman in the room when negotiating with the top people in the Legislature is in many ways a good dynamic. But it's hard for men, the old guard, to figure out how to negotiate when they've never had a woman in the room before."

"She proposed a responsible restructuring of the state's business tax, which the Legislature just walked away from," Whitmer said. "She's had successes. The struggle has been with a Legislature that doesn't want her to succeed."

Democrats and Republicans alike say Granholm's strength is in her charisma and ability to stir audiences and articulate lofty ideals. Her 2003 "budget tour" -- town meetings around the state to explain the budget crisis and elicit advice from citizens -- was a public relations coup.

Since then, she could have done a better job using her position to set her agenda, said Bill Rustem, president and chief executive officer of Public Sector Consultants in Lansing and a longtime observer of state politics.

Still, he credits Granholm for trying new ideas, such as drafting a land-use strategy and her Cool Cities initiative, a program aimed at sprucing up cities to attract young people. Projects include the modernization of rundown storefronts, adding urban walkways along rivers and assistance with loft conversions.

Critics malign the program as feel-good government pork barrel. Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos has said it would be among the first programs he'd eliminate.

Some say Granholm has been less adept at wielding real power, both in the Capitol and within her own party, which labor unions -- not the governor -- still dominate.

That was evident when the state Democratic Party recently nominated union-supported candidates for secretary of state, attorney general and the University of Michigan Board of Regents. Granholm's preferred candidates were swept aside.

Still, Granholm has taken the lead on issues dear to unions, said Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. He said she's been a leading voice against international trade deals, including the bipartisan North American Free Trade Agreement, which he said has sent U.S. jobs overseas.

Gaffney said Granholm has enforced the state's prevailing wage laws, made it easier to unionize home health care workers, and even blocked international trade rules that would restrict union clout in Michigan cities and counties.

"It's very important to have a governor criticize federal trade policies," Gaffney said. "A governor who says, 'This causes job losses in my state,' is pretty important."

Rich Studley, a lobbyist for the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, has worked in Lansing under four governors. While Granholm gives the appearance of a moderate, he said, "She is a classic, big government, big labor, traditional Democrat" who is loath to ruffle unions and other Democratic supporters.

He said Granholm missed an opportunity in her first two years to cut business taxes more by refusing to reduce costs in education, prisons and health care.

Granholm counters that she's erased more red ink from the state budget than any other governor. She points to the passage of a $600-million tax cut for manufacturers over five years, which was only part of her overall business tax-overhaul plan.

She added, "My emphasis is to make sure that government is lean but not mean, that we provide the services and the things that everyday citizens care about. I'm not going to cut grandparents off of health care in order to provide business tax cuts, like the Chamber would like me to do."

She said she opposes a general tax cut, adding, "You cannot invest in human capital if you are slashing resources to be able to invest. People who think taxes alone are the answer are stuck in the 20th Century. They need to wake up and realize this is a new world."

"She's driven," said Lisa Webb Sharpe, director of the Department of Management and Budget and Granholm's former policy director. "She's committed, clear-thinking. She's very involved; she knows what she wants. She's a big-picture person, but she also asks those second- and third-level questions to get to the underlying issues."

Senate Minority Leader Bob Emerson, D-Flint, said Granholm has seen much of her agenda pass a Republican Legislature. But he said she hasn't always communicated well with lawmakers.

"Part of it is they had to figure out who to trust. Part of it is a Republican Legislature," Emerson said. "I think they're doing a better job. But I still worry that what she wants today doesn't get communicated accurately to those who need to know."

Emerson said Granholm is unfairly compared with her Republican predecessor, former Gov. John Engler, who spent 20 years in the Legislature and had unparalleled experience knowing how to push the levers of government.

"She likes people. She trusts people," he said. "She spent three years going out of her way to be the nurturing person she is. I don't think she got much success because of that. I told her early on, 'When they talk to you, they're nice people, but they have a different role here. They're not your friends and they're not going to help you.' "

In an interview with the Free Press editorial board last week, Granholm said she tried being collegial with the Republican Legislature but learned that a tougher approach got more results.

Senate Majority Leader Sikkema said Granholm and the Legislature have accomplished much, not the least being four balanced budgets that avoided fiscal crises. Nonetheless, Sikkema faults Granholm for not taking the lead to trim state government more, especially the cost of Medicaid, a cost he said sucks up money that could be used for education.

"Michigan government needs a change agent as governor," he said. "I don't think she's the change agent. It's going to take someone else to lead a fundamental reprioritization and restructuring of government."

"People want to see change and results, and I share their impatience," she said. "That's why I'm eager. It really feels like I'm in the right place at the right time, because I'm somebody who has the smarts, who is driven, who can lead this state though change."

One public rift with the GOP occurred in 2004 when she backed out of a deal that would have allowed up to 15 charter high schools in Detroit. Philanthropist Bob Thompson wanted to put up $200 million to pay for the schools.

Her last-minute retraction came after Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was pressured by the Detroit Public Schools' teachers union to oppose the charter schools, objected. Her reversal made Republican leaders leery of future negotiations on other issues.

Granholm and Kilpatrick's relationship has been a topic of speculation. It's described as chilly, although neither has made public statements directly criticizing the other.

Granholm has been friendly toward Detroit, not the least of which being her veto of a bill that would have given Detroit's suburbs control over the city's water system.

Pundits often mull whether Kilpatrick would or could muster the large turnout of Detroit voters in November that Granholm might need to win. In fact, Kilpatrick has been publicly gung-ho on Granholm's behalf, but a low turnout in Detroit could cost her the election.

Dave Manney, a former communication director for Kilpatrick, said the mayor and Granholm generally get along, despite inevitable friction over competing interests. He said they talk regularly, at times cell phone to cell phone.

"They have different styles," Manney said. "He's a passionate, hard-charging executive. She can be hard-charging, but she often seeks consensus. That has a lot to do with how they relate. He often will do things and ask questions later. She wants everybody to be on the same page."

Manney added: "When push comes to shove, she's there. It's not always pretty in how it gets done. When the governor needs the mayor, he's there."

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