Contrary to what Pudd'nhead says, "countless" others have not resigned and her definition of "honor" seems to be atypical and nonstandard:

"And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."

In the last 50 years only 33 governors have resigned:

• 15 resigned in order to accept a presidential appointment
• 11 resigned because they were elected or appointed to Congress or VP
• 3 resigned due to scandal
• 2 resigned after being tried and convicted of felonies
• 1 due to illness
• 1 resigned in order to prepare his fourth run at the presidency

In the last 50 years, no sitting governor resigned because of too many ethics complaints, or because "life is too short", or to avoid being a "dead fish", or to help someone else's election campaign, or because they're a "lame duck", or even to "advance in a different direction".

Governors who resigned 1959-2009

Name	State	Party	Term Resigned	Reason
Raul H Castro	AZ	D	2	Presidential Appointment - Ambassador to Argentina
Patrick Joseph Lucey	WI	D/I	2	Presidential Appointment - Ambassador to Mexico
Richard Francis Kneip	SD	D	2	Presidential Appointment - Ambassador to Singapore
Christine Todd Whitman	NJ	R	2	Presidential Appointment - EPA Administrator
Michael Okerlund Leavitt	UT	R	3	Presidential Appointment - EPA Administrator
Otto Kerner	IL	D	2	Presidential Appointment - Federal Judge
Mike Johanns	NE	R	2	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Agriculture
Abraham Alexander Ribicoff	CT	D	2	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of HEW
Kathleen Sebelius	KS	D	2	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of HHS
Janet Napolitano	AZ	D	2	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Homeland Security
Tom Ridge	PA	R	2	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Homeland Security
George Wilcken Romney	MI	R	3	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of HUD
Dirk Kempthorne	ID	R	2	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Interior
Cecil Dale Andrus	ID	D	1	Presidential Appointment - Secretary of Interior
John Arthur Love	CO	R	3	Presidential Appointment - Director of the Office of Energy Policy
Michael Newbold Castle	DE	R	2	Elected US Congress - House
James Caleb Boggs	DE	R	2	Elected US Congress - Senate
Harold Everett Hughes	IA	D	3	Elected US Congress - Senate
Edmund Sixtus Muskie	ME	D	2	Elected US Congress - Senate
George V Voinovich	OH	R	2	Elected US Congress - Senate
Spiro Theodore Agnew	MD	R	1	Elected US Vice-President
Albert Benjamin Chandler	KY	D	1	Appointed to US Senate
Wendell Richard Anderson	MN	D	2	Appointed to US Senate
Edwin Leard Mechem	NM	R	4	Appointed to US Senate
Donald Stuart Russell	SC	D	1	Appointed to US Senate
John Joseph Hickey	WY	D	1	Appointed to US Senate
John G Rowland	CT	R	3	Scandal (ethics)
James E McGreevey	NJ	D	1	Scandal (sex)
Eliot Spitzer	NY	D	1	Scandal (sex)
Harold Guy Hunt	AL	R	2	Resigned after felony conviction
J Fife Symington III	AZ	R	2	Resigned after felony conviction
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller	NY	R	4	To prepare for 1976 presidential bid
Ella T Grasso	CT	D	2	Illness
Pudd'nhead Palin	AK	R	1	Bad Hair Day