"My worst day as governor was better than my best day as a United States senator."—Former Governor Tim Carper (D-DE, 1993–2001) Governors—both in, and now out of, office—see the job as the best in politics. Why is that? Drawing on a survey of former governors, personal interviews, as well as gubernatorial memoirs and biographies, Rosenthal shows students how and why governors succeed as policy leaders and makes a case as to why some governors are better at leveraging the institutional advantages of the office.