Rarely a second chance for defeated candidates
07 November 2008 à 11h28
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The American political system is hard. A defeated candidate who loses is quite definitively out of the presidency.
In the United States, François Mitterrand certainly wouldn’t have become President. American politics rarely give a new chance to defeated candidates, while in France the socialist President had been defeated in 1965 and in 1974 before winning in 1981. Jacques Chirac also ran for office twice before becoming President in 1995.
In the United States, since the Second World War, only two nominated candidates ran again after losing. The first was the Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson. He failed in 1952 and tried again in 1956… without more success. The second was Richard Nixon. He was defeated in 1960 by John Fitzgerald Kennedy and became commander in chief eight years after.
Most of the losers leave the political scene or return backstage. John Kerry, the unlucky Democrat candidate in 2004, is currently Senator for Massachusetts and didn’t play a role during the campaign (except the fact that he had been one of the first to support Barack Obama). Al Gore changed into the great defender of the environment. And Bob Dole, Bill Clinton’s opponent in 1996, played in ads for Viagra…
However, there isn’t such an implicit rule concerning the primaries. A lot of candidates had run several times, for example John Edwards for the Democratic party or John McCain. The Republican candidate was defeated by George W. Bush in the 2000 primaries.
But what about Sarah Palin ? Will McCain’s running mate have a second chance ? Before this election, she was totally unknown outside Alaska. She now has a national reputation. So some observers even predict that she will be a strong candidate in 2012.
Arnaud Bonnin et Thomas Vampouille
In the United States, François Mitterrand certainly wouldn’t have become President. American politics rarely give a new chance to defeated candidates, while in France the socialist President had been defeated in 1965 and in 1974 before winning in 1981. Jacques Chirac also ran for office twice before becoming President in 1995.
In the United States, since the Second World War, only two nominated candidates ran again after losing. The first was the Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson. He failed in 1952 and tried again in 1956… without more success. The second was Richard Nixon. He was defeated in 1960 by John Fitzgerald Kennedy and became commander in chief eight years after.
Most of the losers leave the political scene or return backstage. John Kerry, the unlucky Democrat candidate in 2004, is currently Senator for Massachusetts and didn’t play a role during the campaign (except the fact that he had been one of the first to support Barack Obama). Al Gore changed into the great defender of the environment. And Bob Dole, Bill Clinton’s opponent in 1996, played in ads for Viagra…
However, there isn’t such an implicit rule concerning the primaries. A lot of candidates had run several times, for example John Edwards for the Democratic party or John McCain. The Republican candidate was defeated by George W. Bush in the 2000 primaries.
But what about Sarah Palin ? Will McCain’s running mate have a second chance ? Before this election, she was totally unknown outside Alaska. She now has a national reputation. So some observers even predict that she will be a strong candidate in 2012.
Arnaud Bonnin et Thomas Vampouille
