Will we ever have a President from Hawaii or Alaska (or any other small state)

[Vega]

Says it on the tin. When I say "from" I mean holds elected office, not just being born there.

Bill Clinton was the last small state President, and they're pretty few and far between. Why exactly is this?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

In b4 Bernie Sanders 2016!

I imagine that someone who lived in a small state but gained fame through the military could win.

[Panda Express]

Why exactly is this?

Who has a tougher/more impressive job - the president of Kiribati or the president of China?

[Ban my account ffs!]

Why exactly is this?

Who has a tougher/more impressive job - the president of Kiribati or the president of China?

Welcoming the new year first is the hardest and most impressive thing in the multiverse.  Obviously.

[jimrtex]

Says it on the tin. When I say "from" I mean holds elected office, not just being born there.

Bill Clinton was the last small state President, and they're pretty few and far between. Why exactly is this?

The four presidents who were not from one of the 20% largest states (based on census closest to their inauguration) were:

Adams, JQ
Jackson
Taylor
Pierce
Johnson, A
Wilson
Carter
Clinton
? Warren

The only two from a small state (bottom half):

Pierce
Clinton
? Paul (Kentucky or smaller)

[TDAS04]

Probably.  The fact that each state has the same representation in the Senate helps.

[ag]

I imagine that someone who lived in a small state but gained fame through the military could win.

Or a cabinet member. Or a VP - the last two have been from Delaware and Wyoming.

[Vega]

I imagine that someone who lived in a small state but gained fame through the military could win.

Or a cabinet member. Or a VP - the last two have been from Delaware and Wyoming.

Or perhaps if someone in Senior Senate or House leadership ran.

[ElectionsGuy]

Franklin Pierce was from New Hampshire.

Biden could run, as well as Sanders.

[H. Ross Peron]

One thing I've always wondered about is the lack of prominent national politicians and potential Presidential candidates from the Pacific Northwest-the latest one being Henry Jackson.

[Mr. Smith]

We did have a lot of chances for small-staters and missed 'em.

Small-Staters elected:

Adams - Massachusetts
JQ Adams -Massachusetts
Jackson - Tennessee
Polk - Tennessee
Taylor -Louisiana
Pierce -New Hampshire
A. Johnson -Tennessee
Wilson - New Jersey
Truman -Missouri
Carter- Georgia
Clinton -Arkansas

As for those who lost:

Pinckney - South Carolina
Cass - Michigan
Fremont - California
Bryan - Nebraska
Davis - West Virginia
Landon- Kansas
Wilkie - Indiana
Goldwater - Arizona
McGovern - South Dakota
Dole - Kansas


Yeah not so sure Gore counts with Tennessee anymore

[jimrtex]

We did have a lot of chances for small-staters and missed 'em.

Small-Staters elected:

Adams - Massachusetts (In 1790, Massachusetts was the 2nd largest state, by 1800 it had dropped to 4th by a small amount behind Pennsylvania and New York).  In 1796 it would have been somewhere in between.

JQ Adams -Massachusetts (By 1820, Massachusetts had dropped to 7th, but would have been 4th with Maine included)

Jackson - Tennessee (In 1830 Tennessee was 7th, by 1840 it was 5th).

Polk - Tennessee (In 1840 and 1850, Tennessee was 5th).

Taylor -Louisiana (was he from Louisiana?)
Pierce -New Hampshire
A. Johnson -Tennessee (by 1870 Tennessee was 10th)
Wilson - New Jersey (in 1910 New Jersey was 11th, advancing to 10th in 1920).
Truman -Missouri (Missouri was 10th in 1940, 11th in 1950)
Carter- Georgia
Clinton -Arkansas

As for those who lost:

Pinckney - South Carolina
Cass - Michigan
Fremont - California
Bryan - Nebraska
Davis - West Virginia
Landon- Kansas
Wilkie - Indiana (by the time he was a candidate, New York).
Goldwater - Arizona
McGovern - South Dakota
Dole - Kansas

Yeah not so sure Gore counts with Tennessee anymore

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

One thing I've always wondered about is the lack of prominent national politicians and potential Presidential candidates from the Pacific Northwest-the latest one being Henry Jackson.

Screw Henry Jackson. Frank Church, on the other hand, would have made a fine President.

Frank Church on the NSA in 1975:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

FF.

[mianfei]

Says it on the tin. When I say "from" I mean holds elected office, not just being born there.

Bill Clinton was the last small state President, and they're pretty few and far between. Why exactly is this?

By and large, most of the really small states are too extreme politically to produce viable candidates:

• HI and VT are much too liberal to produce candidates who would win over swing voters without severe losses
• AK and MT, though powerfully Republican, are less socially conservative than other GOP bastions, but their anti-Washington (and historically anti-big-business) tendencies would make them dubious
• WY, ID, ND, SD and UT are far too conservative to provide candidates who would win over the necessary swing voters
• The marginally larger states of WV, NE, KS and OK also stand too conservative to provide candidates who would win over necessary swing voters
• NM and NV are politically more marginal and growing states but they still do possess many traits of other states listed above that would make them not that likely to produce a viable nominee

As a last word, it is far to say that people from a small state, even if exceptionally talented, will not have as wide a perspective as people from a state as large as Texas.

Bill Clinton’s exceptional case is due to several factors:

• Ross Perot’s two candidacies which captured many “Reagan Democrats”
• His long-time status as a moderate Democratic Governor of a conservative (though populist-leaning) Ozark Bible Belt state
• The drift of the GOP towards positions too socially conservative for many of its former supporters in California and the suburban Northeast
• Democratic “moderation” as a reaction to the McGovern debacle of 1972 (when he won only 130 counties out of over 3,000) meant there were numerous moderate statewide Democrats in states (like Clinton’s) that had been strongly Republican relative to the nation in 1984 and 1988
  

[Dr. MB]

Says it on the tin. When I say "from" I mean holds elected office, not just being born there.

Bill Clinton was the last small state President, and they're pretty few and far between. Why exactly is this?

By and large, most of the really small states are too extreme politically to produce viable candidates:

• HI and VT are much too liberal to produce candidates who would win over swing voters without severe losses
• AK and MT, though powerfully Republican, are less socially conservative than other GOP bastions, but their anti-Washington (and historically anti-big-business) tendencies would make them dubious
• WY, ID, ND, SD and UT are far too conservative to provide candidates who would win over the necessary swing voters
• The marginally larger states of WV, NE, KS and OK also stand too conservative to provide candidates who would win over necessary swing voters
• NM and NV are politically more marginal and growing states but they still do possess many traits of other states listed above that would make them not that likely to produce a viable nominee

As a last word, it is far to say that people from a small state, even if exceptionally talented, will not have as wide a perspective as people from a state as large as Texas.

Bill Clinton’s exceptional case is due to several factors:

• Ross Perot’s two candidacies which captured many “Reagan Democrats”
• His long-time status as a moderate Democratic Governor of a conservative (though populist-leaning) Ozark Bible Belt state
• The drift of the GOP towards positions too socially conservative for many of its former supporters in California and the suburban Northeast
• Democratic “moderation” as a reaction to the McGovern debacle of 1972 (when he won only 130 counties out of over 3,000) meant there were numerous moderate statewide Democrats in states (like Clinton’s) that had been strongly Republican relative to the nation in 1984 and 1988
  

You don't have to be a moderate to win over swing voters.

[Dr. MB]

One thing I've always wondered about is the lack of prominent national politicians and potential Presidential candidates from the Pacific Northwest-the latest one being Henry Jackson.

Screw Henry Jackson. Frank Church, on the other hand, would have made a fine President.

Frank Church on the NSA in 1975:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

FF.

If Church had been elected, he would've been easily in the top 5 for greatest presidents in history.

Idaho Democrats are really good, probably the best in the country. It's a shame they don't win more elections.