<p>^^Nope. Secretary of State is like US Senator. It’s an office that a number of presidents held earlier in their careers, but only two sitting Secretaries of State have been elected president:</p>
<p>Madison in 1808
JQ Adams in 1824</p>
<p>The office from which to run for president that has enjoyed the most success, especially in more modern times, is Governor of a state:</p>
<p>Hayes in 1876
Cleveland in 1884
McKinley in 1896
Wilson in 1912
FD Roosevelt in 1932
Clinton in 1992
GW Bush in 2000</p>
<p>Plus several more who were recently retired governors such as Carter and Reagan.</p>
<p>^^Correct, which makes the odds even longer against both of them. And McCain as well. The reason why Senator is such a shaky platform from which to run for president and Governor is such a firm one is that Senators have no administrative record to point to but Governors do. Governors can crow about how prosperous and well-run their state is. </p>
<p>Senators have no such record. What they have instead is a huge voting record that their opponents can comb through looking for any vote that could be spun or misinterpreted to the candidate’s disadvantage. I can hear it now: “Hillary (or Barak) voted to raise your taxes over 200 times!” When in reality many of those votes were technical, procedural, or preliminary in nature or done in reciprocity for some other senator when outcome was certain against the bill. But it’s still a large burden to overcome and not easily explained away in 15 second sound bites.</p>