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The two greatest Presidents of the 20th century were both governors: Coolidge and Reagan.

Here is the miserable list of Senators who became Presidents: Warren G. Harding, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Barack Obama.

Harding exacerbated the economic crisis which would have passed without any action on the part of government. It was actually clearing when he made it worse. He also paved the way to FDR.

Truman stumbled around making foreign and domestic policy worse - luckily he agreed to drop the bomb.

Kennedy gave us the flubbed-from-the-beginning Vietnam War, not to mention essentially beginning the modern imperial presidency.

Johnson did what the KKK set out to do and destroy the black family. He gave us the added bonus of bringing the rest of the country with it. We’d never have had hip hop music, but for LBJ.

Nixon gave us the EPA, a Democrat run Congress, and Jimmy Carter.

Need I mention the crimes of Obama?

No one on FR wants a Democrat governor, just ones like Coolidge and Reagan, more like Coolidge than Reagan if I was deciding.

I rest my case.

I rest my case.

I don't find your case very persuasive.

I agree that the two best presidents of the past 100 years were former governors. But the other 6 former governors were pretty much disasters, including the worst -- Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Carter, Clinton. Bush was not among the worst, but he was pretty bad.

And when you look at the miserable former senator presidents (and I agree with your evaluation of them) their problems were not that they were former senators. Their problems were around their political philosophies and their ethics.

There is not ONE of those former senators whose philosophies and ethics can in any way be compared with those of Ted Cruz, so I think your analysis is deeply flawed.

According to your analysis, Jeb Bush would be preferable to Ted Cruz. I think that conclusion would be highly incompatible with observable reality on its face.