Personal Experience

One issue that WebmasterVote.org has reviewed and analyzed in determining a candidates management ability and intelligence is the candidates' personal education and experience. Although a candidate's education may not reveal everything we should know about a candidate, analyzing their education will shed light on each candidate's general level of intelligence.

It is interesting to note that the education backgrounds of the candidates in this year's presidential election do not have a lot of distinction, with the exception of three of the republicans. Every candidate except Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Ron Paul, attended law school. Mike Huckabee received a B.A. degree from Ouachita Baptist University, John McCain received a B.S. degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and later attended National War College, and Ron Paul received an M.D. from Duke University. One candidate, Mitt Romney, received an MBA from Harvard Business School in addition to His J.D. from Harvard Law School. Because he received both a J.D. and MBA from Harvard, it is our view that Mitt Romney has received the strongest, broadest education of all the candidates.

Beyond their educations, many of the candidates also have very strong managerial and governing experience. All three democrats running for office have served in the U.S. Senate, although for relatively short periods of time. On the republican side, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have been governors, John McCain and Fred Thompson have been U.S. Senators, Ron Paul a U.S. Congressman, and Rudy Giuliani the mayor of New York City.

Those regarded as having the strongest records of experience and leadership are Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani was obviously the mayor of New York City during the tradgedy of the September 11 attacks. His management of the situation and leadership abilities help lead New York City and the greater American public through the recovery period after the attacks. Mitt Romney has an extensive background in business, earning a reputation as a turn-around artist. He advertises the fact that he has the experience and skills to deal with bringing about necessary reforms to turn the federal government in the right direction. Additionally, Mitt Romney's success story of turning around the 2002 Winter Olympics is well chronicled.

Although most of the candidates bring adequate educations and experience to the table, our review of the candidates gives Mitt Romney a slight edge over the other candidates when it comes to personal education and experience. Although many orgainzations may view the experience of the candidates differently than us, our critique is again based from our point of view as members of the internet community.