Some years back, I was really involved in local politics (I travel too much now) and was a Republican precinct captain in the neighborhood we lived in at the time. Our State Representative (who later became Governor Bill Owens) approached me about running for an at-large City Council seat, noting that the party didn't have enough good candidates.

I turned the offer down, and told Bill that as opposed to elected office that "I'd rather shovel shit. It smells better, and shoveling shit is at least honest work."

My guess is that many capable people feel the same way.

Unfortunately, the better question is likely to be "Which presidential election candidates are tolerable?"

Paul.

"Rand" Paul. Duh.

I have said the same thing, yet most of the founding fathers felt they had better things to do, disliked the sting of criticism in public service, but accepted the role as their duty to the principle. Our contemporary smart guys have mostly skipped over the principle part.

I am not religious but definitely think that we need a moral code to live by. Although imperfect, religion has provided a moral code for the intellectually lazy. It is fine, even preferable, to move away from altruistic faith but with no moral compass at all, we are asking for disaster. Our intelligence is what allows us to be free and not a danger to ourselves. Without it we are blindly running around oblivious to objects with which we are sure to collide.

There's no shortage of people in America who are smart enough and honest enough to do an outstanding job as President. Unfortunately, the fact that they're that smart and honest means that they're also smart and honest enough to know that they want no part of it.