Yeah, I was all ready to publish this post, and then it occurred to me that I didn't have an intro. Anyway, so that's our intro. Check out number 20 and 19 below. The rest are located after the jump.
20. Drew Edmondson, State Attorney General
Drew Edmondson has been the Attorney General of Oklahoma for about as long as I've been able to drive. For those of you who have no clue how long that is, lets just say it's too long. That's probably why Edmondson has already announced he is going run for Governor in 2010. Who really wants to be Attorney General for 16 years?
Anyway, during his run as AG, Edmondson has made a lot of powerful friends. He also sued Arkansas. That's pretty damn cool.
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19. Glen Coffee. State Senate Pro-Tem
Fever blisters and stupid political philosophies aside, Glenn Coffee is one of the rising young politicians in Oklahoma. Right now, he either has his sights set for Governor or Attorney General in 2010. We're not sure which, but if he wins either one, we hope herpes reform is a key component of his campaign.
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18. George W. Bush, Former President of the USA
Although he's a Texan, we figured one of the worst Presidents in the history of our nation should make this list. The reason for this is because he's still extremely popular in our state. Seriously, Oklahoma is the only place in the world where a Bush bumper sticker will get you out of a speeding ticket and a wink from a carhop at Sonic.
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17. Burns Hargis, President of OSU
Burns Hargis is a former bank executive, political pundit and now the President of Oklahoma State University. The first two things mentioned are what makes him powerful. The last one just means he can tell a bunch of agricultural engineers what classes they need to take.
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16. The Mathis Brothers Furniture Sellers
You may find it odd that a couple of furniture pitchmen made it this high, but just consider this frightening scenario: what if one of the Mathis Brothers went on 24-hour drugged out coke binge in mid December and decided to unleash their army of aggressive salesmen and women on the State Capital. Seriously, our government would shut down because Brad Henry would be forced to buy 100,000 Laz-E-Boy chairs and Broyhill sectionals.
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15. David Thompson, Oklahoman Publisher
In all honesty, I really don't know what David Thompson does all day, but since he is one of the most powerful people at the state's most biased and influential media outlet, he belongs on here.
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14. Tom Ward, CEO, Sandridge Energy
Tom Ward, along with his buddy Aubrey McClendon, founded Chesapeake Energy and helped lead it into one of the largest corporations headquartered in Oklahoma. Then he took control of SandRidge Energy and moved it downtown. Unlike Aubrey, Tom seems to stay out of the spotlight. And instead of selling of a vintage wine collection, he creates an odd, yet well intentioned, non-profit group.
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13. George Kaiser, President, BOKF
According to Forbes, Kaiser is worth about $12 billion. That's all you need to know.
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12. Aubrey McClendon CEO, Chesapeake
When we came up with these rankings, we initially had Aubrey higher. But then the Oklahoman reported that he started selling his wine collection. If you ask me, powerful people buy wine. They don't sell it.
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11. Jim Inhofe & Tom Coburn, Crazy Senators
Sure, they are wacky in their own unique way, but ranking one ahead of the other is impossible. Since that's the case, we decided to combine them into one super powerful Oklahoman who thinks global warming is myth and that doctors who perform abortions should be given the death penalty. The fact that we have a super powerful Oklahoman like that representing our state in the US Senate is very sad.
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Anyway, there is only one week left on the countdown. Who will be the Top 10? Check us out next week to see. And to view the rest of the list see the links below:
