I traditionally believe that governors come to the table with executive experience and that aids them well in running and governing. I am not so sure we are not in a new era of politics, though. We also used to see candidates with military experience trump those without, but the last winner following that rule was in 1988. That’s an eternity ago in politics.
I think communication skills and television skills trump either executive and military experience with the electorate. You gotta win to be president, so my first criteria is whether the candidate can effectively battle the media the Democrats. A governor that kowtows and capitulates doesn’t have a chance. It has to be a conservative who can think on their feet and go around the media firestorm. It doesn’t have to be a perfect ideological conservative, but they have to be a conservative at their core and also be a master campaigner. Those two trump executive experience in today’s world, because a President is first and foremost now a spokesman and a media representative.
Since Ted Cruz was the Texas Solicitor General and a US Attorney, as well as head of the Bush legal team, I don’t think that totally applies to him. Since fewer and fewer people go into the military, there isn’t as large a pool to draw from there.