To all of those who say that a Senator can't win the presidency [View All]

[Hippo_Tron]

It's true, only two senators have won the presidency in modern times (Harding and Kennedy), but only 6 have recieved a major party nomination (Kerry, McGovern, Goldwater, and Dole being the other three). Lets take a look at the loosing governors since the election of 1920 (when Senator Warren Harding was elected President).

1920

James M. Cox

1928

Al Smith

1936

Alfred M. Landon

1944 + 1948

Thomas E Dewey

1952 + 1956

Adlai Stevenson

1988

Michael Dukakis

And the winning governors since those elections have been...

FDR, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton

Bottom line...

Major party nominations have gone to a senator 6 times since 1920. Twice has a senator won. Senators that get their party nomination win the presidency 1 out of 3 times.

Major party nominations have gone to a governor 13 times since 1920.
Four Governors have won the presidency since and one stole the election. Governors that get a major party nomination WIN the presidency 4 out of 13 times (roughly 1 out of 3). Even if you do count *'s victory as an actual win it's still 5 out of 13 times which is still roughly 1 out of 3.

BTW another little interesting statistic...

Governors are 0 for 4 in open white house contests. Senators are 2 for 2.

Senators are 0 for 4 as challengers of incumbent presidents. Governors are 4 for 8.

Bottom line... (again)

I'm not saying that we have to have a senator in '08 but there's no reason that we can't. And also, senators tend to do better in open white house contests, '08 is one of those situations.