posted by Josh Goodman
Over the past couple of weeks, Sen. Barack Obama's middle name, "Hussein," has generated a minor stir, with analysts wondering whether it's a political liability. This piqued my interest, so I've compiled a list of the full names of every governor and governor-elect.
My favorite gubernatorial middle names are Renfroe, Alois, Ervin, Gilligan, Babineaux, Laurdine and Elmer, but you can see the full list below. (You can also find a list of presidential candidate middle names here.) A few other observations:
* Illinois Governor Milorad Blagojevich -- more commonly known as "Rod" -- doesn't have a middle name, but uses the middle initial "R." as a tribute to his late father, Radisaz.
* Others without middle names include Hawaii's Linda Lingle, West Virginia's Joseph Manchin III and Ohio Governor-Elect Ted Strickland. According to his congressional office, Strickland isn't even Theodore, he's just "Ted."
* In Arkansas, the outgoing governor is Michael Dale Huckabee and the incoming governor is Michael Dale Beebe. In Idaho, the outgoing governor's middle name is Elroy and the governor-elect is Leroy. The governors of Indiana and Maine both have the middle name "Elias."
* The only governor whose middle name I wasn't able to pin down was Vermont's James H. Douglas. James Hussein Douglas? Probably not.
* My middle name is "Swift." As a result, I've waited all my life for someone to ask me, "Are you fast?" Then I can reply, "Swift's my middle name."
| Alabama | Robert Renfroe Riley |
| Alaska | Sarah Heath Palin; Francis Hughes Murkowski |
| Arizona | Janet Ann Napolitano |
| Arkansas | Michael Dale Beebe; Michael Dale Huckabee |
| California | Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger |
| Colorado | August William Ritter, Jr.; William Forrester Owens |
| Connecticut | Mary Jodi Rell |
| Delaware | Ruth Ann Minner |
| Florida | Charles Joseph Crist, Jr.; John Ellis Bush; |
| Georgia | George Ervin Perdue III |
| Hawaii | Linda Lingle |
| Idaho | Clement Leroy Otter; James Elroy Risch |
| Illinois | Milorad R. Blagojevich |
| Indiana | Mitchell Elias Daniels, Jr |
| Iowa | Chester John Culver; Thomas James Vilsack |
| Kansas | Kathleen Gilligan Sebelius |
| Kentucky | Ernest Lee Fletcher |
| Louisiana | Kathleen Babineaux Blanco |
| Maine | John Elias Baldacci |
| Maryland | Martin Joseph O'Malley; Robert Leroy Ehrlich, Jr. |
| Massachusetts | Deval Laurdine Patrick; Willard Mitt Romney |
| Michigan | Jennifer Mulhern Granholm |
| Minnesota | Timothy James Pawlenty |
| Mississippi | Haley Reeves Barbour |
| Missouri | Matthew Roy Blunt |
| Montana | Brian David Schweitzer |
| Nebraska | David Eugene Heineman |
| Nevada | James Arthur Gibbons; Kenneth Carroll Guinn |
| New Hampshire | John Hayden Lynch |
| New Jersey | Jon Stevens Corzine |
| New Mexico | William Blaine Richardson |
| New York | Eliot Laurence Spitzer; George Elmer Pataki |
| North Carolina | Michael Francis Easley |
| North Dakota | John Henry Hoeven III |
| Ohio | Ted Strickland; Robert Alphonso Taft II |
| Oklahoma | Charles Bradford Henry |
| Oregon | Theodore Ralph Kulongoski |
| Pennsylvania | Edward Gene Rendell |
| Rhode Island | Donald Louis Carcieri |
| South Carolina | Marshall Clement Sanford, Jr |
| South Dakota | Marion Michael Rounds |
| Tennessee | Philip Norman Bredesen |
| Texas | James Richard Perry |
| Utah | Jonathan Meade Huntsman, Jr. |
| Vermont | James H. Douglas |
| Virginia | Timothy Michael Kaine |
| Washington | Christine O'Grady Gregoire |
| West Virginia | Joseph Manchin III |
| Wisconsin | James Edward Doyle |
| Wyoming | David Duane Freudenthal |
If Obama will change his middle name to "Ala" and drop the "O" off his last name, it could mean a lot of votes for him in the South.
Posted by: ivan swift | Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 08:03 AM