Exit Jon Corzine

When Dwight D. Eisenhower won his first race for the Presidency, outgoing President Harry S Truman observed that he was due for a rude awakening. "Poor Ike, he'll think this is like the army and that'll he'll just issue orders and expect that they get done," or words to that effect. Tuesday's defeat of former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine in his reelection bid as governor of New Jersey brings Truman's words to mind.

Jon Corzine thrived in the frenetic environment of Wall Street, where things got done quickly, where high achievers like himself advanced rapidly, and where laggards were summarily fired. The often glacial ways of legislatures and government bureaucracies present a stark contrast. Before his first term in the U.S. Senate was over, Corzine apparently had lost patience with the protracted debate that marks its way of doing business, and ran for governor. As governor, he was repeatedly frustrated in dealing with the legislature, even though it was held by his own party. He will leave office largely unpopular and unmissed.

Jon Corzine successfully used his vast fortune to buy name recognition and to win election to high office. Most reports indicate that he has sunk over $120 million of his own money into his three races. However, despite outspending his chief rival by nearly a four to one margin in his reelection bid as governor, Corzine lost. The skills he developed in the world of Wall Street did not prove entirely transferable to the world of high elective office.