Via Political Wire comes some remarkable news: Sarah Palin is one of just three first-term Governors since the 20th century to resign for reasons unrelated to a superseding event like a promotion, an indictment or the like.
On a hunch, I reviewed online lists of all the men and women who've been elected governor of their state since the year 1900. Pored over them for a few hours. Over 1200 politicians have taken that first-term oath of office. Some soon died in office. Many resigned to accept other positions in government, including Spiro Agnew who was "tapped" by Nixon after being the Governor of Maryland for about five minutes. On a handful of occasions, a first-termer was dragged off to the slammer or impeached. One was incapacitated by a nervous breakdown and one left just as impeachment came knocking on his door. So--how many out of over 1200 just up and quit before the end of their term?Three: Jim McGreevy, Eliot Spitzer and Sarah Palin.
We already knew that Sarah Palin's bizarre announcement over the fourth of July weekend was largely unprecedented. But separating her out from Eliot Spitzer and Jim McGreevy, who both left amid sex scandals the national and local press would not let go of (both of which also implicated legal or ethical issues), Palin's resignation would actually appear to be the first and only instance in at least a century of a Governor leaving office during his or her first term for no particular reason at all. Impressive.
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