Dealscape has focussed a lot of attention on the prospects of Republican dealmaker-turned-politician Mitt Romney in his quest for the White House, but ignored those of Democratic dealmaker-turned-politician Mark Warner. Sure our lack of attention wasn't the reason the former Virginia governor dropped out of the race — had there been more media coverage of his campaign, maybe Dealscape would have followed it more. After all, he left the hunt because he wanted to spend time with his family — notice that this is the generic reason executives always give for taking an early retirement. In addition, he wanted to shield his family from media scrutiny.
Of course, it is early in the 2008 race, so little attention has been paid to most of the candidates from both sides of the aisle. The only reason Massachusetts Governor Romney has risen above the pack is his religious beliefs — for those unfamiliar, he's a Mormon.
Interestingly, both Romney, who co-founded Bain Capital, and Warner, who co-founded Nextel and a venture capital firm, have more in common than just being dealmakers — not to mention being two of the wealthiest presidential candidates. Both were able to win in states where their parties are usually not popular. In political terms, this is what set them apart from most of their opponents. In addition, their centrist appeal is what could carry the day come primary season — although Romney is starting to swing further right in order to attract interest from the Republican base of Christian conservatives. Now, we'll never know how Warner would have fared.
Worse yet, we won't have that dealmaker vs. dealmaker election come November 2008 that we'd been dreaming about. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story from The Boston Globe
See story from The Chicago Tribune
See story from The New York Times
See story from The San Jose Mercury News
See story from The Seattle Times
See story from The Washington Post
See Forbes' list of the wealthiest American politicians
Continue reading below
