Smartest Current State Governors

[Skill and Chance]

Please try to be as objective as possible and base things on their personal accomplishments/educational attainment/presentation and not on their policies.

I'll start:

1. Jindal (R-LA): Brown, Rhodes Scholar, accepted to Harvard Med and Yale Law
2. Lynch (D-NH): Harvard Business School, Georgetown Law, turned a company around as CEO, founded business consulting firm, HBS Director of Admissions, Chairman of UNH Board of Trustees
3. Daniels (R-IN): Presidential Scholar, Princeton Undergrad, Georgetown Law, CEO of Hudson Institute
4. Snyder (R-MI): J.D. and MBA from University of Michigan, assistant professor at U of Michigan, very impressive venture capital work
5. Patrick (D-MA): Harvard Undergrad and Harvard Law, challenging family background (single mom)
6. Quinn (D-IL): Phi Beta Kappa at Georgetown, Northwestern Law School
7. Bentley (R-AL): Undergrad at U of Alabama in 3 years, dermatologist
8. Kitzhaber (D-OR): Dartmouth, ER physician
9. Malloy (D-CT): Boston College and BC Law, overcame dyslexia, memorizes everything and rarely writes
10. Brown (D-CA): Berkeley and Yale Law, but his father was also a governor which probably helped a lot...


It was hardest to decide where to put the two physicians relative to the top law school grads. 

[Senator Napoleon]

Get Mallory off that list. Thefirst who came to mind was Mitch Daniels but Kitzhaber and Lynch are serious contenders. Bev Perdue and Nathan Deal are near the bottom IMO.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Brewer and Walker are certainly the stupidest ones.

[Skill and Chance]

Get Mallory off that list. Thefirst who came to mind was Mitch Daniels but Kitzhaber and Lynch are serious contenders. Bev Perdue and Nathan Deal are near the bottom IMO.

Someone who functionally cannot write and yet graduated a top college magna cum laude is by definition very smart.  Whether he is a good politician remains to be seen.

[Cincinnatus]

Get Mallory off that list. Thefirst who came to mind was Mitch Daniels but Kitzhaber and Lynch are serious contenders. Bev Perdue and Nathan Deal are near the bottom IMO.

Someone who functionally cannot write and yet graduated a top college magna cum laude is by definition very smart.  Whether he is a good politician remains to be seen.

I think he certainly deserves a lot of credit for succeeding in spite of a disability.

[HST1948]

If we are basing this on education and prior experiences, I would say Jack Markell (D-DL) seems to be very intelligent. He got an economics degree in economics from Brown University and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

In addition to his education he has also done the following during his career according to Wikipedia:

"Markell served as Vice President for Corporate Development at Nextel, and helped to lead the movement to wireless technology. His other work experience included a senior management position at Comcast Corporation as well as posts as a consultant at McKinsey and Company, Inc. and as a banker at First Chicago Corporation."

[Senator Napoleon]

Get Mallory off that list. Thefirst who came to mind was Mitch Daniels but Kitzhaber and Lynch are serious contenders. Bev Perdue and Nathan Deal are near the bottom IMO.

Someone who functionally cannot write and yet graduated a top college magna cum laude is by definition very smart.  Whether he is a good politician remains to be seen.

What needs to be seen other than his budget?

[Skill and Chance]

If we are basing this on education and prior experiences, I would say Jack Markell (D-DL) seems to be very intelligent. He got an economics degree in economics from Brown University and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

In addition to his education he has also done the following during his career according to Wikipedia:

"Markell served as Vice President for Corporate Development at Nextel, and helped to lead the movement to wireless technology. His other work experience included a senior management position at Comcast Corporation as well as posts as a consultant at McKinsey and Company, Inc. and as a banker at First Chicago Corporation."

I don't know how I missed him.  Judging by that background, he is probably in Patrick/Quinn territory. 

I also wonder if I am weighing Jindal's Rhodes Scholarship too heavily vs. Lynch and Daniels...

[MilesC56]

Brewer and Walker are certainly the stupidest ones.

I'd also add Kasich.

[MasterJedi]

Brewer and Walker are certainly the stupidest ones.

And yet both more successful then you can ever hope to be!

[Joe Republic]

He lives in Greece, Jedi.  Which US state would you expect him to try and run for governor in?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Brewer and Walker are certainly the stupidest ones.

And yet both more successful then you can ever hope to be!

You know, by your standards Gaddafi and Kim Jong Il are much more successful than I will ever be but I doubt that even you'd consider them role models. 

[MasterJedi]

He lives in Greece, Jedi.  Which US state would you expect him to try and run for governor in?

Something in Greece? But of course you're trying to attack me so it really doesn't matter that what I said could mean any elected office, or other type of job no matter where he lives.

[So the Heroes Fall]

So I guess Rod Blagojevich is more successful than anyone on the forum?

[Bacon King]

Echoing that Deal and Perdue are among the least intelligent. Probably Brewer too. Walker's a partisan hack but he's not stupid. I agree with Jindal being one of the smartest.

[Skill and Chance]

Echoing that Deal and Perdue are among the least intelligent. Probably Brewer too. Walker's a partisan hack but he's not stupid. I agree with Jindal being one of the smartest.

Walker and Quinn are similar in that regard then.