I guess Ronald Reagan ran for president two times before he actually won, but does 1968 really count? And another thing: isn’t it easier to bounce back from narrowly losing the nomination than it is to recover from getting your ass handed to you in a general election?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Yes, I would think so. The model is Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956. Although in 1956, I don’t know if anyone else was willing to run against Ike.
Nixon was worried, if that matters. Cf Perlstein, Nixonland pp. 282-3.
Nixon was paranoid. he worried about everything, especially “enemies”.
1968 doesn’t really count, because Humphrey didn’t lose that election to Nixon; he lost it to Wallace.
If Hillary were somehow to succeed in throwing half her party’s base into the same royal rage that the Dixiecrats felt toward Humphrey – who was well to the left of LBJ on civil rights – then Mitt could claim Nixon as precedent.
Reagan was still being propelled by his speech at the 1964 Republican Convention even in 1980. Mitt doesn’t have that tailwind; instead he has the headwind of a dog strapped to the top of a station wagon. There’s a segment of the dog lover demographic pretty leery of Romney. And the GOP ones will be looking for alternatives–definitely a plus for Santorum.
Yes, we know Santorum is worried about protecting dogs, don’t we?
Only from homosexual sex that somehow involves man-on-dog sex.
If the country hadn’t been in the midst of energy and hostage crisis with skyrocketing interest rates, all of which Carter was blamed for, Reagan might not have won in 1980 either.
Obama has put the country on a far better footing than it was in 1980.
On the other hand, Henry Clay and William Jennings Bryan both ran for president two times before they lost for the third time. And Mitt Romney is no Henry Clay or William Jennings Bryan either.