I said there was a general trend. Doesn't mean I go for it myself.

Unfortunately, most people vote to keep someone out of office, not because they're huge fans of the guy they vote for. Kerry would have been a huge disaster as president, and I would still vote for Bush over him even now. But it would hurt. Heck, it hurt in 2004.

Neither party is exactly tossing up "leaders for the ages" right now, which is another thing that opens the field for outsiders. There is probably some political equivalent of "inbreeding" that leads to the same results as the genetic equivalent. Keeping the leadership choices tightly bound to long-term service in Washington tends to ruin the pool.

Vote for Jesse? A lot would depend on who else would be running. Minnesota has had worse governors. Same with Arnold here in California, I suppose.