But with at least six current and two former GOP governors seriously eyeing presidential campaigns, odds are increasingly likely that their cozy collegiality and camaraderie will be tested in the coming months as the pressure cooker of politics turns friends into political opponents.
There’s a striking emerging consensus among Republicans from all corners of the country that their next nominee for president should be a governor.
Even some with long experience in the world’s greatest deliberative body favor a chief executive to lead the ticket in 2016.
“Clearly governors over senators,” says former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. “The American people will be looking for a governor. I don’t think any of our senators are going to be really that viable in 2016, partially because you vote every day. Your record can be twisted around your neck every day. Governors are executives, they make decisions, they make things happen.”
“Many of us feel we’d better go with a governor,” says Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who ran for president himself in 2000. “It’s probably better for us if we chose a governor because they’re used to being an executive, they’re used to running things. We’re more likely to win if we have a presidential nominee who comes from the gubernatorial ranks.”