What Happened the GOP Governors?

Our good friend Jonathan Martin of Politico has a very interesting post up about the fate of all those big-name GOP governors from the 90s ...

--Bill Weld: Couldn't even get the party's nomination to run for governor of New York last year

--George Pataki: Thought about a White House run this time around, but got next to no traction

--George Allen: Macaca

--Tommy Thompson: Is running for president, but is buried deeply in the second-tier

--Bill Owens: Messy divorce and squishiness on taxes knocked the once-cover boy of NR off the radar screen

--Christie Todd Whitman: Got a B-List administration gig (EPA) and tried to create some buzz by pushing the moderate boulder up her party's conservative hill. Not so much buzz created.

--Tom Ridge: Got a decent administration post (DHS) but is now perhaps best known for the department's fabled color-coded threat warnings.

--John Engler: Couldn't even get an administration job (maybe if he had delivered Michigan against McCain in '00...) and is now head man for the manufacturers association.

--Marc Racicot, Frank Keating and Bill Graves: Well, at least they're, much like Engler, making some good cash as DC lobbyists.

If you were a betting man in the 90s, you would have put money on the fact that one of these guys (or gals)would be the frontrunner for the GOP nomination, right now. 

One last note:  Jonathan didn't mention Jeb, but you know the story there ...