Candi-Capable Ceos

Brandweek, Nov 6, 2000 by Becky Ebenkamp

When Ross Perot burst into the political arena two elections back, many Americans said they were sick of the business-as-usual political machine and took to the novel idea of someone running the country like a well-oiled corporate machine. Now, a survey by ad agency Doremus has found that most CEOs consider their peers to be worthy presidential candidates--more so than the current crop of candidates, in fact.

Opting from a list of six captains of industry or a write-in, the execs viewed Jack Welch of General Electric as the most viable candidate--he got 49% of the vote. Runners up were Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher (26%) and IBM chair Lou Gerstner (25%). When asked who they would personally vote for, Welch topped that list too (49%), followed by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan (21%) and Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina (17%). Gerstner and Kelleher each got 15% of the vote. What a difference a year makes: Bill Gates (10%) placed sixth in the six-horse race. A whopping 73% of the CEOs feel that neither Gore nor Bush is the best qualified candidate America has to offer, but then again, who does?