Now that Gov. Jodi Rell is assured a four-year term after two-and-a-half years of practice, it's time for her to start playing for the niche.

It should be easy enough. All she has to do is usurp some Democratic ideas, come up with a few of her own and get out in front of the parade.

Next thing you know, there will be a marble statue of Rell on the west side of the Capitol's south portico, next to her predecessor, Ella Grasso, the nation's first female governor.

Conveniently, there are a couple of empty niches right there next to Grasso, who overlooks the governor's parking space from about 20 feet up. Grasso looks as if she wants to shake her finger at the Legislative Office Building, although it was built years after her 1981 death from cancer.

Niches are not exactly recesses in the wall, but on the Capitol, they're pedestals on top of ornate columns with little doghouse-sized shelters over the statutes' heads. There are more than two dozen of these gothic niches, eight of which are currently empty, waiting for the right person.

Judging by the neighborhood, it's entirely possible for Rell, who's enjoyed huge budget surpluses since taking over following the July 2004 departure of John "Why Should I Resign If I've Done Nothing Wrong" Rowland, to get a spot up in one of the niches.

Take Roger Ludlow (1590-1664), whose marble likeness was installed in 1909. Among the first settlers in Connecticut, he was also the first lawyer and was responsible for the 1650 Blue

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Laws, which still force the thirsty to head to New York State for Sunday alcohol sales.

Not far from Grasso, along what I call the governor's entrance because since the 2001 terrorist attacks the Capitol has had only two doors open daily, is a marble statue of John Sedgwick (1813-1864) placed in 1934.

Sedgwick, a true optimist, was a temperamental career Army officer who somehow survived the battles of Antietam, Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, sustaining three serious wounds.

In one of the great ill-timed pronouncements of the Civil War, he declared that rebel sharpshooters "could not hit an elephant at that distance" shortly before the major general was gunned down by a sniper at Spottsylvania, Virginia in May 1864.

If Rell serves the entire four years, she would have a longer tenure than the sainted Ella, who won two elections, gathering 643,490 votes in 1974 and 613,109 in 1978. Rell got 709,849 votes on Nov. 7.

Now all she needs is a legacy beyond the comparative "I'm not John Rowland" subtext that won her the election in a landslide over John DeStefano's 398,220 votes. Oh yeah and she needs three or four memorable speeches.

First off, Rell has to concoct an overhaul of the state's electric-utility market. House Democrats had a chance to pull the trigger on that one, but opted for yet another public hearing in December, leading to a vague promise of fast-tracking a bill in January.

The mechanics of the committee process in the Capitol don't lend themselves to expediting legislation, so Rell has a clear shot here. She really has to embrace her inner wonk, though.

It's an amazingly tough, complicated subject, this failure of the 1998 legislation that supposedly restructured the electric industry by taking generation away from United Illuminating and Connecticut Light & Power. The anticipated proliferation of new generators never materialized.

The governor can also cherry pick one of Speaker of the House Jim Amann's pet projects: somehow providing coverage for the 77,000 uninsured Connecticut youngsters.

That's going to happen in the 2007 Legislature, so Rell might just as well propose it when they reconvene on Jan. 3. Indeed, she could raise the ante and challenge lawmakers to cover the nearly 400,000 uninsured children and adults, since Democrats have been planning that too.

Next, Rell has to really embrace the "Smart Growth" concept, a unified way to plan for future state development, protect farmland and open space and foster new jobs. Parents aren't going to feel great about Connecticut until their kids can find jobs here when they get out of college.

Part of the "Smart Growth" idea requires further investment in the state's transportation infrastructure, including more trains and following through on a New Haven to Springfield, via Hartford, commuter line.

Another leadership issue is a little amorphous, but I was thinking about this after the oblivious, self-absorbed, 20-something female in the new Audi cut me off, without signaling, on Route 34 in Orange the other day.

Driving state highways on a regular basis, you can easily identify the stressed out and over-mortgaged by the bad, discourteous, dangerous driving. The lives of these losers must be so bad, I figure, that the only freedom they have left is to driver like dangerous idiots. Rell got into the general subject in August of 2005, when State Police launched a campaign against following too closely. About 1,600 tickets resulted. The governor should begin a wider-ranging anti road-rage campaign, stressing the need for courtesy, obeying the speed limit, buckling up and using your turn signals.

"It's a beautiful day in Connecticut," she can say on the public-service ads. "What's your hurry?"

Ken Dixon's Capitol View appears Sundays in the Connecticut Post. You may reach him in the Capitol at (860) 549-4670 or e-mail him at dixon.connpost@snet.net.