I agree about the distinction between governor’s powers relative to other branches of government within the state versus absolute power. I’d just like to add that to me, it’s not as obvious that under the second criterion, California would be the winner. I think New York is at least a close contender. Sure, population, GDP and territory-wise, NY is much smaller than CA. But a lot of the country’s economic relations with other countries go via New York, and a lot of companies active across the USA are based there too. You have banking and the stock exchange, you have lots of professional services, media, whatever, and in many respects these will be required to comply with US law - indeed, the state’s Department of Financial Services has become very active in financial supervision recently and has become, for foreign banks operating in the US, a regulator about as powerful as many federal authorities.
Yes I was going to say New Jersey for just such reasons. We didn’t even have a LT governor until recently when the succession became an issue (both the Mcgreevy resignation and governor health issues such as being in a high speed crash).