Only three incumbent Governors have lost re-election since Jewett Adams lost in 1886 -- Bob List was one of them

Robert List, in the news yesterday after endorsing Rudy Giuliani for President, was part of a group of young prosecutors who once played a major role in Nevada politics. List's rise in politics was meteoric: he was 31-years-old when he was elected Ormsby County District Attorney in 1966 (a post Paul Laxalt held in the 1950's), and was elected state Attorney General four years later.

List, now 42, won election as Governor in 1978. He won 82% in the GOP primary, and defeated Democrat Robert Rose (who became Lieutenant Governor when Harry Reid ran against Laxalt for the U.S. Senate in 1974) by a 56%-40% margin.

But the next four years were difficult ones for List. His plan to raise revenues by reducing property taxes and raising the sales tax seemed to fail, and he struggled to win the approval of Nevada voters. When he sought re-election in 1982, he won just 57% in the Republican primary (Mike Moody took 20% and 19% voted for neither). In the general election, he faced Democrat Richard Bryan, who had succeeded him as state Attorney General, and lost by 28,000 votes - a 53%-42% margin.

Nevadans tend to re-elect their Governors; since List's defeat, Bryan, Bob Miller and Kenny Guinn all won re-election. And before List, the last Governors to lose re-election were  Democrat Grant Sawyer, who lost to Laxalt by a 52%-48% margin when he sought a third term in 1966, and Democrat Vail Pittmann, who lost 58%-42% to Republican Charles Russell in 1950.