…and change! Almost half of Democrat voters think that Obama should have someone face him in a primary. I have mixed feelings about this. I think I want him on the ballot in 2012. But it would be nice to see him get beaten up, as happened to Jimmy Carter. Of course, people forget that there was a third candidate in that race. Whether or not that happens this time partially depends on whether the Republicans learned from their mistakes.
3 thoughts on “Hope!”
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If Obama is challenged in the primary, chances are he will win the nomination and go on to lose the general election.
When was the last time a president lost is party’s nomination? Does Johnson in 1968 count?
I believe LBJ comes as close as possible in my lifetime, but there were a few incumbent presidents in the 19th century who didn’t get reominated by their parties.
Of course, some of those had become president when their predecessors literally predeceased them. It wasn’t until TR in 1904 that an “accidental president” got elected to the job in his own right.
Ran through the list of one-termers and former VPs who advanced:
Millard Fillmore – not nominated
Andrew Johnson – not nominated
Chester A. Arthur – not renominated
John Tyler – not renominated
Franklin Pierce – not renominated
Rutherford B. Hayes – Did not seek reelection
James Buchanan – did not seek reelection
James Knox Polk – did not seek reelection
Lyndon B. Johnson – did not seek reelection
Calvin Cooledge – did not seek reelection
Harry Truman – did not seek reelection