Massachusetts governor pops by for Doyle speech

ATLANTA - There was a surprise visitor to Gov. Jim Doyle's Tuesday welcoming speech to the Wisconsin delegation at BIO, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Doyle was about halfway through his remarks at the Wisconsin pavilion on the convention floor when he picked out Patrick's face in the crowd. He then joked his Massachusetts counterpart could "learn a thing or two from us" about biotech policy.

Well, maybe. Massachusetts is among the leading biotech states in the country, and one of the top two states in venture capital investments. But Patrick has admired Wisconsin's technology transfer system, and mentioned Wisconsin as a biotech model in a 2007 op-ed column in the Boston Globe. Doyle and Patrick have been among a relative handful of governors advising President Obama on the federal stimulus.