in the 2006 Connecticut gubernatorial election. She received approximately 710,000 votes, the highest total for any gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut history. She carried all but seven towns. Governor Rell was one of many Republicans mentioned as a potential candidate for vice president in the 2008 presidential election. The presidential nominee John McCain chose Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate instead. In April 2008, Rell's Lt. Governor, Michael Fedele told the media he expected Rell to run for re-election in 2010. In August 2008 she told reporters she would file an exploratory committee for a 2010 reelection bid. She announced on November 9, 2009, that she would not seek re-election. Democrat Dan Malloy succeeded Rell in office on January 5, 2011. Abortion and embryonic stem-cell research Governor Rell supports abortion rights, and she was supported by the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition and The WISH List, an abortion-rights Republican PAC. She supported abortion rights embryonic stem-cell research during her tenure as Governor. Education policy Rell supported a lawsuit in response to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed the lawsuit against the US Department of Education to force Congress and President George W. Bush to amend the act because, Rell contends, it would compel Connecticut to spend tens of millions to meet impossibly high standards, even as the state's schools perform at one of the highest levels in the nation. The act requires states to pay for standardized testing every school year, instead of every two years. Rell's State Department of Education says the extra testing will provide little new information about students' academic progress. Rell has been active on education issues; she gave the 2008 commencement address at Central Connecticut State University. Government spending Rell supported the state's constitutional spending cap resisting pressure from groups favoring expanded state government spending which would bypass the cap. As a result, in late June 2006 the state reported a $910 million surplus for the prior year and the state's Rainy Day Fund exceeded $1 billion in deposits for the first time. In 2007 she shocked many of her supporters by proposing additional spending for education that would cause the state budget to significantly exceed the spending cap. Paying for the increased spending would require raising the state income tax. Republican legislators and a few Democrats, including (at least initially) House Speaker James Amann, as well as many