A chartered bus adorned with slogans about 'Hope' and 'Dreams' was rumbling through this part of the country this week, carrying a public servant who made regular stops to greet mayors and local television cameras. No, Education Secretary Arne Duncan is not a candidate for office. But yes, his bus tour through Maine, New Hampshire and other Northeast states had all the trappings of a political campaign. Duncan's tour, coinciding with back-to-school season, was billed as a way to honor teachers. But the road trip also felt like a victory lap after last week's announcement that nine states and the District of Columbia had won the Race to the Top, the Obama administration's most prized education initiative. The competition was the rarest of rarities: a government grant program that became a household phrase and brought arcane education policy onto morning television shows. By the Education Department's count, the competition for $4.3 billion in federal funds at a time of state budget crises prodded 34 states to change laws or policies to align themselves with the administration's goals for change. The two-day journey started Monday with a news conference in Albany with Gov. David A. Paterson and ended at a middle school in Maine. Although the Race to the Top agenda was controversial with many educators -- especially promoting charter schools and holding teachers accountable for improving student test scores -- Duncan heard little criticism in the Northeast states he visited. That may have been because New York and Massachusetts were big winners, landing $700 million and $250 million, respectively, in grants. And Congress approved $10 billion on top of that this summer to save teachers' jobs. At the headquarters of New York State United Teachers outside Albany, Duncan met with union leaders who for years bitterly opposed linking test scores to teachers' pay or tenure. In a compromise last May to improve New York's Race to the Top bid, the union agreed to make test scores 40 percent of teacher evaluations. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the ranking minority member of the House Labor and Education Committee, said in an interview that some of Duncan's reforms, especially ones unpopular with unions, came straight from the traditional Republican playbook. 'I said, 'Arne, only you can do that,'' Kline said. ''You're the secretary of education for a Democratic president.'' 