Obama vs. Romney would be a below average “political experience” race.

[retromike22]

I think a lot of people have forgotten that Romney served as Governor for only.... 4 years. Yes, Obama was only a senator for 4 years but I also think that his problems in dealing with the Republicans were somewhat due a naive hopefulness of conciliation.

So in the middle of the night I was thinking… what is the combined major political experience of recent two major party candidates at the time of their election? Major experience being: President, vice President, Governor, Senator, or Cabinet Member.

Eisenhower 0 yrs + Stevenson 4 yrs as Governor = 4 yrs
Eisenhower 4 yrs as President + Stevenson 4yrs as Gov = 8 yrs
Kennedy 8yrs as Senator + Nixon 10 ys (8yrs as V. Pres + 2 yrs as Senator) = 18 yrs
Johnson 16 yrs (1 yr as Pres + 3 yrs as Vice Pres + 12 yrs as Sen) + Goldwater 12 yrs = 28 yrs
Nixon 10yrs (8yrs as V. Pres + 2 yrs as Sen) + Humphrey  20 yrs (4 yrs as V. Pres + 16 yrs as Sen) = 30 yrs
Nixon 14 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 8 yrs as V. Pres + 2 yrs as Sen) + McGovern 10 yrs = 24 yrs
Carter 4rs as Gov + Ford 3 yrs (2 yrs as Pres + 1 yr as V. Pres) = 7 yrs
Reagan 8 yrs as Gov + Carter 8 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 4 yrs as Gov) = 16 yrs
Reagan 12 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 8 yrs as Gov) + Mondale 16 yrs (4 yrs as V. Pres + 12 yrs as Sen) = 28 yrs
Bush 8 yrs of V Pres + Dukakis 10 yrs as Gov = 18 yrs
Clinton 12 yrs as Gov + Bush 12 yrs (4 yrs of Pres + 8 yrs of V Pres) = 24 yrs
Clinton 16 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 12 yrs as Gov) + Dole 28 yrs as Sen = 44 yrs
Bush 6 yrs as Gov + Gore 16 yrs (8 yrs as V Pres + 8 yrs as Sen) = 22 yrs
Bush 10 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 6 yrs as Gov) + Kerry (20 yrs as Senator) = 30 yrs
Obama 4 yrs as Sen + McCain 22 yrs as Sen = 26 yrs

Obama vs. Romney would be:
Obama 8 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 4 yrs as Sen) + Romney 4 yrs = 12 years.

Under this criteria:
Paul: 0
Gingrich: 0, but 4 if you count Speaker as major
Santorum: 12.

[retromike22]

You're right, Speaker should count. In that case, Gingrich would get 4 yrs and 6 yrs as Minority Whip. If we are including major leadership positions in the House, then Ford would get an additional 9 yrs when he was the Minority Leader of the House.

Carter 4rs as Gov + Ford 12 yrs (2 yrs as Pres + 1 yr as V. Pres + 9 yrs as Minority Leader) = 16 yrs

For 2012:

Obama 8 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 4 yrs as Sen) + Romney 4 yrs = 12 yrs.

Obama 8 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 4 yrs as Sen) + Paul 0 yrs  = 12 yrs.

Obama 8 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 4 yrs as Sen) + Gingrich 10 yrs (4 yrs as Speaker + 6 yrs as Minority Whip) = 18 yrs.

Obama 8 yrs (4 yrs as Pres + 4 yrs as Sen) + Santorum 12 yrs as Sen = 20 years.

Gingrich and Santorum vs Obama would be more average, but Romney vs. Obama would be the lowest combined "major political experience" since... 1956, with Eisenhower vs. Stevenson.