Growing a third party into anything more than a thorn in the side of the major two has historically proven next to impossible. In the 1992 and 2000 presidential elections, the most high-profile third-party candidates in recent history, Ross Perot and Ralph Nader, both failed to get elected and managed to screw over the major candidate whose politics they most aligned with (right-wing Perot took from George H.W. Bush, causing him to lose to Bill Clinton, and lefty Nader pulled votes from Al Gore, most critically in Florida, ceding the race to George W. Bush). Of course, blowing a major party’s chances at winning can influence that party’s platform during the next election cycle, but what does a third party have to do to actually win the White House? Ask the Republicans. In 1860, the only third party ever to win the presidency and replace one of the reigning two parties took advantage of a country battered by the build-up to the Civil War. The two reigning parties had been deeply weakened by the slavery debate — the Whig Party exploded in 1856 because party abolitionists and anti-abolitionists could no longer stand each other and the Democrats were undermined by similar arguing. The Republican Party, then a mangy third party founded only six years earlier, took advantage of the chaos. They nominated the unabashed abolitionist Abraham Lincoln, he won, the South seceded, and the rest is history.
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For the past year, presidential politics has been building to the crescendo that is the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
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Trash night. Trash night, trash night, trash night. Abfallnacht , as they probably call it in Germany.
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The biggest story of the campaign so far has been the semi-collapse of John McCain.
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The upcoming presidential election was never going to be an easy one for the Republicans to win.
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A revolutionary, Ralph Nader, a Baptist minister, and two former congressmen from Georgia are all running for president in Rhode Island.
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Supporters of Cynthia McKinney say that choosing a presidential nominee doesn’t have to mean selecting between a black and a female candidate.
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Ralph Nader was not the reason for Gore’s loss.
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As the pool of presidential candidates starts to take shape, some people are looking for leadership, ideas, or experience.
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With the news that Florida and Michigan are unlikely to redo their primaries, it’s become even more probable that Barack Obama will be the Democratic presidential nominee.
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With the Republican nomination officially settled, the speculation about John McCain’s choice of a running mate has already begun.
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Who are the unsexiest politicians of 2007?
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Topics:
News Features
, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, More
, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Abraham Lincoln, Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, Whig Party, Less
